MetaQuotes is undoubtedly a tycoon on the forex market. Its White Label platforms have become the basis of business for many technology providers who don’t own proprietary platforms. Signals have been appearing on the market for a long time that the procedure of applying for a new WL is getting longer, and more applications are rejected. There have been more and more direct questions in the forex industry: Is MetaQuotes blocking access to MetaTrader white labels?
Recently, the developer of the MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 platforms provided a new list of documents required to obtain a platform under the White Label model. Also, there are a lot of debates in the industry between MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5. Certainly, MetaTrader 5 is technically more advanced; however, there are some traders who want to trade only through MetaTrader 4 using their robots and strategies. Thereby, some brokers are still choosing MetaTrader 4 even tho MetaQuotes has not been selling MetaTrader 4 full servers since 2018. Therefore, if a broker wants to start with MetaTrader 4, then White Label is the only option.
In this regard, there are a large number of brokers who start their brokerage activities with White Label at the initial stage in order to minimise start-up and reduce the ongoing operational cost.
Current requirements for new White Label Brokers at MetaQuotes
Let’s see what are the requirements now, including those recently added, for MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 White Labels.
Certificate of Incorporation
Once you decide to become a Forex Broker, first of all, you need to register a company. It’s a mandatory step that cannot be skipped or postponed. You may decide on any jurisdiction of your choice.
The activities of the MetaTrader 4 / MetaTrader 5 White Labels should be related to the below:
- online currency trading,
- financial services, investment services,
- trading of financial instruments,
- online forex services/trading,
- brokerage and financial services.
A Brokerage company needs to be entitled to offer trading services in financial markets to its clients. Here it is important to mention that when registering a company with any mentioned above type of activity in some countries, it will be necessary to apply for a license.
Note that if you’ve already decided to choose MetaTrader 4 White Label or MetaTrader 5 White Label as your trading platform – the name of your registered company will also become the name of your platform (branding). So you need to either decide at the very beginning what you want to name your Broker; otherwise, you will need to have a properly registered Business Name, Branding, DBA, Trade Name or Trademark, any of mentioned. It will be used as program name, server name and logos. However actual company name must remain on the terminal as well.
Register of Directors and Register of Shareholders
A standard set of documents is provided after the registration of the company. However, documents must be recent and certified.
Another requirement is a copy of the Director’s Passport, accompanied by a selfie of the Director’s / UBO passport. Director and UBO will need to take a picture of themselves with the Passport in their hands. In the latest phase of verification, a broker will need to verify their identity on video recording with his passport/ID.
Registered and Physical Address
A Registered address can be found in the standard set of documents. However, you will also need to provide proof of a physical address. A certified utility bill for landline, water, gas or electricity will be sufficient.
In case the company is older than 6 months, you will need to provide a recent Certificate of Good Standing or Certificate of Incumbency.
Domain ownership confirmation needs to be registered under the full company name. A Broker will need to make a screenshot of the screen with visible Registrant Name, Domain Name, Expiration and Time.
Corporate Account Verification
The most recent requirement, which was added in July and which will be the most difficult for an offshore broker, is corporate account verification. A Broker will need to provide a certified reference letter or statement issued by the bank that verifies the existence of an active bank account, which should include the company’s registration number and registered address.
It is no secret that at the initial stage, brokers choose jurisdictions that are simple in terms of incorporation speed and cost, such as St. Vincent’s example. Opening a bank account for such a company will be quite difficult. This means that Brokers will need to consider other jurisdictions where costs and waiting times increase to months.