STUDY RECORD · last re-checked 2026-09
Standard Chartered FX — institutional liquidity provider
Standard Chartered FX is a Tier-1 bank liquidity provider, established in 1853, and headquartered in London. It holds licenses from the FCA in the UK and SEC/FINRA in the US, allowing it to operate across multiple jurisdictions. The firm’s FX trading network emphasizes emerging markets, although claims regarding market position are self-measured.
Standard Chartered PLC (banking via Standard Chartered Bank) · London, UK · evidence score 87/100
Licence, read on the register
| Regulator | Licence number | Jurisdiction | Tier | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FCA (Standard Chartered Bank) | 114276 | UK | tier-1 | open source ↗ |
| SEC/FINRA (BrokerCheck, Standard Chartered Securities North America LLC) | 8-66397 | US | tier-1 | open source ↗ |
Tier classification follows the same scale as the retail register: tier-2 means real supervision and client-money segregation, without an investor compensation scheme — never misread it as tier-1 protection.
What this record teaches
Four reading skills, each anchored to something the firm actually published.
- 01 — Teaching pointStandard Chartered FX operates as a Tier-1 bank FX liquidity provider.
- 02 — Teaching pointThe bank serves financial institutions, NBFIs, PayTech firms, and corporates.
- 03 — Teaching pointRetail clients are refused access to institutional FX lines.
Claims ledger
Claims specific enough to be falsified — and the ones that remain the venue's own measurement.
Testable claims
- Standard Chartered's FX trading network stretches across emerging markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, transacting since doors opened in Mumbai, Kolkata and Shanghai in 1853 (sc.com fx-capabilities page)
- SC PrismFX is the bank's cross-currency transactional FX solutions suite for Financial Institution, NBFI, PayTech and Corporate clients globally (sc.com press release)
- Institutional digital-asset trading launched through its UK entity as an FCA-registered cryptoasset firm, with clients accessing cryptoassets through familiar FX interfaces (sc.com press release)
Claims we cannot verify from outside
- FX volume / market-position claims (self-measured)
Perimeter and coverage
| Asset classes | Venues | Connectivity | Clients accepted | Explicitly refused |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FX spot, FX forwards, FX swaps, NDFs, FX options | SC PrismFX transactional FX suite, multi-dealer e-FX platforms | Financial institutions, Non-banking financial institutions, PayTech firms, Corporates | Retail clients (institutional FX lines) |
A firm that publishes its own negative space — who it refuses, where it is not licensed — is materially easier to diligence than one that doesn't. The refusal list is treated here as a disclosure, not a defect.
Self-check
Answer these before you consider the record read. If you cannot, re-read the licence and the claims ledger — the answers are all in what the firm published.
- What types of clients does Standard Chartered FX serve?
- Which licenses does Standard Chartered FX hold in the UK and US?