Axi is an Australian retail forex and CFD broker founded in 2007 and formerly known as AxiTrader. Its headquarters sit in North Sydney. The brand shows up in most broker comparison tables, but the legal picture behind it is the part that decides how safe a client's money is. Axi does not trade through a single company. It runs a group of separately licensed entities, and the protections a client receives depend almost entirely on which of those entities signs the client agreement. This article sets out the structure, the licences, a regulatory event worth knowing, and the leverage and compensation differences that the original marketing copy left out.
The group is one Australian company with several licensed offshoots
The parent is AxiCorp Financial Services Pty Ltd, an Australian company with ACN 127 606 348 and New Zealand business number 9429042567608. It holds the Australian licence, the New Zealand licence and the Dubai branch licence, and it owns the St Vincent entity outright. Most readers never see that parent name on their own account paperwork, because they contract with one of the operating companies beneath it.
Axi Financial Services (UK) Limited, registered in England and Wales as company 6050593, holds Financial Conduct Authority authorisation under firm reference 466201. The authorisation dates to 16 August 2007. A second UK related firm, AxiCorp Limited (company 06378544), also carries an FCA registration, number 509746.
For the European Union, Axi does not use its own Australian company at all. EU business runs through Solaris EMEA Limited, a Cypriot investment firm authorised by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission under licence 433/23, granted on 10 July 2023. Solaris is a distinct company, not a subsidiary of AxiCorp, and it operates the EU site at the domain approved on the CySEC register. That distinction is the one most review sites flatten.
Most international retail clients, those outside the United Kingdom, Australia, the EU and the Gulf, are onboarded under AxiTrader Limited. That company is incorporated in St Vincent and the Grenadines under registration 25417 BC 2019 and is 100 percent owned by the Australian parent. The same logo and the same trading platform sit on top of a very different legal foundation.
Licence coverage, entity by entity
AxiCorp Financial Services Pty Ltd holds Australian Securities and Investments Commission licence AFSL 318232. This is the entity for Australian retail clients. It also holds the New Zealand derivatives issuer licence FSP 518226 and the Dubai Financial Services Authority licence F003742 through its DIFC branch. The DIFC branch holds a Category 4 licence and, by the terms of that authorisation, is not permitted to hold client assets.
Axi Financial Services (UK) Limited serves United Kingdom clients under FCA firm reference 466201. Eligible clients fall under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which covers claims up to 85,000 pounds per person if the firm fails.
Solaris EMEA Limited covers EU retail clients under CySEC licence 433/23. Those clients have access to the Investor Compensation Fund, capped at 20,000 euros. The scheme is real, but it sits with a separate company from the one holding the Australian licence.
The protection tiers are not equal. Australian clients rely on the Australian Financial Complaints Authority for dispute resolution rather than a statutory compensation fund, because the ASIC framework does not provide one on the scale of the FSCS. The Dubai branch offers no retail compensation scheme. The St Vincent entity offers no government backed protection at all. A client who assumes one logo means one level of safety is mistaken.
Only the UK and EU tiers carry a statutory fund worth naming.
A New Zealand suspension that was later lifted
In 2019 the New Zealand Financial Markets Authority suspended AxiCorp's derivatives issuer licence. The suspension took effect on 29 July 2019. The FMA cited material breaches of the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013: making a regulated offer to retail clients without a compliant product disclosure statement, failing to lodge audited financial statements, and failing to obtain a required assurance engagement with a qualified auditor. The FMA also noted that AxiCorp had not notified it promptly of a change to senior staff after appointing a chief financial officer.
The suspension limited AxiCorp to closing out existing clients' positions. Fewer than 20 New Zealand clients were affected. On 2 December 2021 the FMA lifted the suspension after AxiCorp demonstrated it had addressed the breaches. The episode is a matter of public record on the FMA's own website and is worth reading in the regulator's wording rather than in a broker summary.
Leverage follows the entity, not the logo
The original article claimed leverage up to 500:1 as if it applied to every account. It does not. In the United Kingdom and Australia, retail clients are subject to product intervention rules that cap leverage at 30:1 on major currency pairs. Higher limits apply only to professional clients or to the offshore tier.
The 500:1 figure describes the St Vincent entity and, in some cases, professional classifications. A client onboarded under the FCA or ASIC entity will not see 500:1 on a retail account. Stating a single leverage number without naming the entity is misleading, because the same brand name sits over very different risk limits. The higher the ceiling, the larger the potential loss against a small deposit.
The safety net stops at the offshore tier
Most readers who open an international Axi account will be placed with AxiTrader Limited in St Vincent and the Grenadines. That entity is registered but not prudentially supervised to the standard of the FCA, ASIC or CySEC. It provides no government backed compensation scheme. Negative balance protection, which applies to retail clients on the FCA, ASIC, CySEC and DFSA tiers, does not apply to the St Vincent entity.
Client funds are held in segregated accounts across the group. Segregation helps. It is not insurance, and it is not a compensation fund. If the St Vincent entity failed, there is no statutory scheme to return client money. A client choosing the international account trades the higher leverage for a materially thinner safety net, and that trade should be made with open eyes.
Products, platforms and account types
Axi offers more than 200 forex and CFD instruments, spanning currency pairs, commodities, indices, share CFDs, IPO CFDs and cryptocurrencies where local rules permit. The core platform is MetaTrader 4, with MetaTrader 5 available through the EU entity and an Axi branded trading app and copy trading service on top. Three account types are offered: Standard, Pro and Elite.
The Pro account advertises spreads from 0.0 pips and carries a per lot commission. Exact spreads and commissions vary by entity and by instrument, and the broker's published schedule is the document to read rather than a review site summary. None of these product details change which compensation scheme would apply if something went wrong, and that is the point most often buried.
Funding, withdrawals and who cannot apply
Funding methods include bank transfer, credit and debit cards, and e wallets such as Skrill and Neteller, with cryptocurrency offered in some regions. The broker states it charges no deposit fees, though intermediary banks or processors may. Withdrawals to e wallets are typically processed within about a day, while bank transfers can take one to three business days. Identity verification is required before the first withdrawal.
Minimum funding is low and varies by entity. The UK entity advertises a small dollar minimum while other entities publish none. United States residents cannot open an account, because the group holds no US registration with the National Futures Association or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Eligibility and leverage in other jurisdictions should be confirmed directly with the entity before any money moves.
Checking the entity on your own agreement
The single most useful step is to read the client agreement before depositing, and to confirm the exact legal name of the entity named in it. Then verify that name on the relevant public register. None of the checks below requires an account, and each takes a few minutes.
- Search Axi Financial Services (UK) Limited on the FCA register and confirm firm reference 466201 matches the company on your agreement.
- For Australia, check AFSL 318232 for AxiCorp Financial Services Pty Ltd on the ASIC professional registers.
- For the EU, confirm Solaris EMEA Limited and CySEC licence 433/23, and read the approved domain list on the CySEC register.
- For New Zealand, look up FSP 518226 on the FMA register and read the 2019 suspension notice for context.
- For Dubai, check DFSA licence F003742 and note the branch cannot hold client assets.
The brand on the homepage tells you little. The entity on the agreement tells you everything about your protection, your leverage ceiling and your route to complaint or compensation if the firm fails.