Southeast Asia
Starting a forex brokerage in Malaysia
Labuan, a federal territory of Malaysia with its own financial regulator, is where Malaysian founders usually look first. The licence that comes up is money broking, and it is narrower than most articles suggest: under the Labuan FSA's 2024 guidelines a money broker only arranges trades between other parties, serves mainly institutional and wealthy clients, and caps leverage at 100:1. This page sets out what that means in practice and what you still have to build.
Labuan money broking licenceFrom this guide's sources
- Labuan FSAPermitted activityNo dealing as principal
- Labuan FSAPaid up capitalRM1,000,000
- Labuan FSAClientsinstitutional investors and high net worth individuals
- Labuan FSAClient leverageUp to 100:1
Figures and rows from this guide's own sources. Sample market data, sample clients and sample brands. "Your Brand" stands for your own name and logo.
Why Labuan comes up first for Malaysian founders
Labuan is a federal territory of Malaysia with its own financial services regime, supervised by the Labuan Financial Services Authority. For a founder in Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta or Singapore it has an obvious appeal: it is a Malaysian territory with its own regulator. Bank Negara Malaysia, the central bank, still treats every Labuan entity as a non-resident for foreign exchange purposes. The Labuan FSA also normally expects an applicant to have at least three years of money broking experience.
The licence for this business is money broking, and the Labuan Financial Services Authority's guidelines of 9 September 2024 define it narrowly. A money broker arranges transactions between buyers and sellers in the money and foreign exchange markets as an intermediary, for a fee. It may not buy or sell currencies as a principal, act as a liquidity provider or make markets. The business is intended for institutional investors and high net worth individuals, and the broker is expected to cap client leverage at 100:1. The licence covers money market and foreign exchange products only: the guidelines exclude CFDs on other underlyings such as oil, indices or shares, and cap digital asset trades at 1:1 leverage.
Read moreShow less: Why Labuan comes up first for Malaysian founders
The same guidelines set paid up capital of at least RM1,000,000, or RM1,500,000 for a broker that also arranges digital asset trades, an operational office in Labuan, a board of at least two members and an annual audit by a Labuan approved auditor. The broker must also follow Malaysia's foreign exchange rules, now issued by Bank Negara Malaysia as its Foreign Exchange Policy, and obtain approval from the authorities in each market it serves before operating there. Bank Negara Malaysia treats every Labuan entity as a non-resident, and says a Malaysian resident may buy or sell foreign currency only with licensed onshore banks and licensed money changers, so do not plan on a Labuan money broking licence to take Malaysian residents as clients. Fees and practice still change, so confirm the current position with the Labuan FSA and an adviser before you plan around any figure.
Licensing takes months and involves lawyers, a corporate services provider and a regulator. Technology takes weeks. If you run them one after the other you add months to your launch for no reason.
| Requirement | Labuan money broking licence |
|---|---|
| Permitted activity | Arranging money market and foreign exchange trades as an intermediary. No dealing as principal, no liquidity provision and no market making. |
| Products | Money market and foreign exchange products. CFDs on other underlyings are excluded. Digital asset trades may be matched if the assets have no features of securities. |
| Paid up capital | RM1,000,000, or RM1,500,000 with digital assets, deposited with a regulated bank in Labuan or Malaysia. |
| Clients | Intended for institutional investors and high net worth individuals. Retail clients should make up less than half of the portfolio. |
| High net worth individual | Net personal assets above USD 1 million, or gross annual income above USD 150,000. |
| Client leverage | Up to 100:1, and 1:1 on digital asset trades. |
| Office and board | An operational office in Labuan and at least two board members. |
| Annual audit | By a Labuan approved auditor, with audited accounts filed within six months of the financial year end. |
| Annual licence fee | USD 5,000, or USD 10,000 with digital assets, from 1 July 2026. |
| Application fee | USD 500 processing fee, from 1 July 2026. |
| Outsourcing | Any outsourcing needs the Labuan FSA's prior approval. From 1 January 2027, platform functions may be outsourced only to a provider regulated or supervised by a financial services regulator. |
- Regional credibility
A Malaysian territory carries more weight with Southeast Asian clients and partners than a purely offshore label with no local presence.
- Substance requirements
An operational office in Labuan, a board of at least two and an annual audit. Budget for running it as well as applying.
- Not a retail dealing licence
A Labuan money broker may not take the other side of client trades. A brokerage that plans to fill retail orders on its own book needs a different licence.
- Check the fit first
A licence that lets you deal as principal can run on our platform as it is, so the technology can start alongside the application. Under a Labuan money broking licence, read the next section first.
Sources (5)
- Labuan FSA, Guidelines on the Establishment of Money Broking Business in Labuan IBFC (9 September 2024)
- Labuan FSA, FAQs on the Guidelines on the Establishment of Money Broking Business in Labuan IBFC (24 March 2025)
- Labuan FSA, Labuan Financial Services and Securities (Amendment) Regulations 2026, P.U.(A) 246/2026 (in operation 1 July 2026)
- Labuan FSA, Processing and Approval Fees (Labuan Financial Institutions) (Amendment) Order 2026, P.U.(A) 247/2026 (in operation 1 July 2026)
- Labuan FSA, Guidelines on the Management of Digital Money Broking Platform (16 December 2025, effective 1 January 2027)
Who holds whatIllustration
- Licence
- Client relationship
- Client money
- Trading accounts
Illustration.
On your platform
How the platform fits this route
One deployment on your brand, domain and database: the terminal your clients trade on, and the CRM your team runs.
Sample market data and sample clients. "Your Brand" stands for your own name and logo.
What this means for your platform
On our platform the brokerage is the counterparty to its clients' trades, whether it keeps them in-house or covers them with a liquidity provider.
Read moreShow less: What this means for your platform
A Labuan money broker is not allowed to be that counterparty, so the platform does not suit a Labuan money broking licence today. A Labuan money broker also could not offer the platform's oil, index or stock CFDs, and whether gold and silver count as foreign exchange products is a question for the Labuan FSA. Any outsourcing already needs the Labuan FSA's prior approval, and from 1 January 2027 its platform guidelines allow a money broker to outsource platform functions only to a provider that is regulated or supervised by a financial services regulator. We build brokerage software and are not a regulated firm, so raise this with the Labuan FSA and your adviser before you choose any platform vendor.
A founder who holds a licence that permits dealing as principal elsewhere can run the platform as it is. Which licences permit that is a question for your licensing adviser; our page on offshore licence jurisdictions covers the names that come up most.
What the licence does not give you
A licence is permission to operate.
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Once it is granted you still need a trading platform your clients will use, a back office your staff can run, a way to take and return money, a way to verify identity, and a way to pay the partners who introduce clients to you.
Founders often lose time here. Licensing consultants are not software companies, and the platform question is usually left until the licence is close, at which point it becomes the thing holding up the launch. If your licence lets you deal as principal, deciding the technology early removes that risk.
The platform your clients see
Clients in this region expect a terminal that works properly on a phone.
Sample market data and sample clients.
Read moreShow less: The platform your clients see
The trading platform prices forex majors and crosses, gold and silver, oil, stock indices, crypto and US stocks, each with its own spread, contract size, pip size and digit precision.
Charting covers candle, line and area across nine timeframes with more than thirty indicators, drawing tools and multi chart layouts. Order handling covers market, limit and stop with take profit, stop loss, trailing stops and linked one cancels the other pairs, sitting on a margin engine with live equity, free margin, margin call warnings and automatic stop out.
The same terminal installs to the home screen on iOS and Android and updates itself, so you get mobile coverage without commissioning a separate app or waiting on app store review.
The back office your team runs
The staff side is a full CRM.
KYC review
Sample data and sample clients.
Read moreShow less: The back office your team runs
A leads pipeline with sources, campaigns, assignment and a conversion funnel. Client profiles that pull accounts, money, trades, documents, calls and notes into one screen. A document review flow that gates withdrawals until identity is verified. Role based access for admin, manager, sales manager, retention and sales, so a sales agent cannot touch a withdrawal queue.
Introducing brokers matter more in this region than in most, and the partner side is built in: multi tier structures, per partner commission rules and the reporting to settle them without a spreadsheet.
Every sensitive action is written to an audit trail with who did it and when. That record helps long before a regulator asks for it, because most disputes come down to an ordinary action nobody can reconstruct afterwards.
Branding and isolation
Everything runs on your brand and your domain.
Read moreShow less: Branding and isolation
Your logo, colour, typography and app icons are configuration and flow through the client terminal, the staff CRM and every transactional email your clients receive. There is no vendor watermark or shared support domain.
Each brokerage also runs on a separate deployment with a separate database. With no shared tenant table, one broker's book cannot be read from another. A regulated entity should understand this before signing anything.
Common questions
Anything else? Our team answers 24/7.
Is there a Labuan forex license?
The licence usually sold as a Labuan forex license is the Labuan FSA's money broking licence. It lets the holder arrange foreign exchange and money market trades as an intermediary, not deal as principal or make markets, for mainly institutional and high net worth clients, with leverage up to 100:1 and paid up capital of RM1,000,000. The processing fee is USD 500 and the annual licence fee USD 5,000, from 1 July 2026.
Can a Labuan money broker run on your platform today?
Not on its own. A Labuan money broker must act only as an intermediary, and on our platform the brokerage is the counterparty to its clients' trades, even when it covers them with a liquidity provider. From 1 January 2027 the Labuan FSA's platform guidelines also say a money broker may outsource its platform only to a provider regulated or supervised by a financial services regulator. We are a software company, not a regulated firm, so check that point with the Labuan FSA too.
Do you help with the Labuan licence application?
No. We build brokerage software. Licensing should be handled with a corporate services provider and legal advisers who specialise in Labuan, and we are happy to work alongside whoever you appoint.
Can we start building before the licence is granted?
Yes, if the licence you are applying for lets you deal as principal. Once you are happy with the demo, your branded platform is set up within a week, while licensing runs for months, so running them in parallel means the platform is ready and tested. A Labuan money broker should first ask us for the timeline on routing orders to a liquidity provider.
Does the platform work for clients across Southeast Asia?
On the technical side, yes. It is a browser based platform with an English interface that installs to the home screen on iOS and Android, so it works on the devices your clients already own without an app store download. Your licence and local law set which countries' residents you may serve.
Can we run introducing brokers and partner commissions?
Yes. Multi tier introducing broker structures, per partner commission rules and the reporting behind them are part of the CRM, with no separate system to integrate.
What if we license somewhere other than Labuan?
The platform runs as it is under a licence that lets you deal as principal. Instruments, leverage, account types and document requirements are configuration, and you choose per client whether trades are kept in-house or covered with your liquidity provider.
See the platform before you choose your licence
Book a demo and see the terminal and the CRM carrying your brand. We will show you how orders fill, so your licensing adviser can confirm it suits the licence you are considering.