Capital Market Authority, Lebanon

Founded in August 2011, the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) is an independent, autonomous regulatory body to promote and develop capital market activity in Lebanon, and to protect investors from fraudulent activities.

CMA is responsible for regulating, supervising, licensing and monitoring the activities of the Lebanese Capital Markets. Its vision is to establish confidence in the Lebanese capital markets by enhancing their integrity and maintaining their attractiveness to investors by developing the local markets to better serve the national economy.

The CMA Board has extensive powers aiming to enhance investor protection and promote investment in the financial markets. It has the power to establish general regulations concerning the establishment and management of stock exchanges, as well as regulations concerning the establishment and functioning of financial intermediation institutions which manage investment funds and collective investment schemes for the public.

1.Safety of Client Funds：

Lebanon CMA-regulated forex brokers hold client money or client assets must segregate its own money and assets from client money and client assets.

2.Requirement on Forex Brokers' Initial Capital:

Lebanon forex brokers must have fully paid up the capital of the highest of the following amounts that applies to its application:

I.Advising 150 million LBP(100,000 USD).

II.Dealing 600 million LBP(400,000 USD).

(Market maker or liquidity provider, Managing subscriptions for distributing or underwriting securities - 1.5 billion LBP(1000,000 USD))

III.Managing 3 billion LBP(2,000,000 USD).

IV.Arranging 300 million LBP(200,000 USD).

V.Custody - 6 billion LBP(4,000,000 USD).

3.Requirement on Forex Brokers' Reports：

The forex brokers are asked to provide audited report and transactions report to Lebanon CMA.

Generally speaking, CMA-regulated broker profile will be found at the APPROVED INSTITUTIONS page on CMA website. Try to find it and check if it will match the info from the broker website.

The detailed steps are as below:

1. Find the name of the forex broker, which you can get from the broker's website; 

2. Enter the name into the search bar on https://www.cma.gov.lb/approved-institutions/ ;

3. And you'll get the broker's contents on CMA website. At this time you need to check if the broker is a 'Financial intermediation institution' and its 'LICENSED ACTIVITIES'.

When you have disputes with a CMA-regulated broker, you can proceed the following ways:

1st way: The recommended way is to contact the broker directly and discuss with them to find a solution.

2nd way: If you're not satisfied with the broker's solution, try to contact CMA, which helps to solve the disputes between the forex broker and the investor.

You can either send the complaint to the email: info@cma.gov.lb or by post: Rome Street, Wardiyeh, Hamra, Beirut.

Complaint Form: https://www.cma.gov.lb/file-a-complaint-investor/ 

3rd way: If the 2 ways above can't solve the dispute, the last way is to issue a case to the court in Lebanon.