Australian regulator hikes cost of retail Forex licence by a factor of 5

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission has increased the cost of a licence to run a retail foreign exchange business from $200,000 to $1 million

• ASIC are concerned by possible criminal activity and poor governance in the sector ... and cited further: fraud, poor risk management, & and too many retail investors being tipped into the risky investment
• ASIC will soon have moore discretion to refuse licences & an increased ability to impose conditions on existing operators
• Since September of 2014, ASIC has shut down at least half a dozen retail forex providers
• ASIC cited "a lot of people lost a lot of money" in the sector when the Swiss National Bank's decided to remove a cap on the franc's value against the euro

The local press has more (may be gated): Forex trading: ASIC hikes cost of licences to curb criminal activity