Australia's corporate regulator has cancelled the financial services licence of Trive, a contracts for difference issuer that stopped taking on new clients last year after ASIC found serious deficiencies in how it ran its business.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission confirmed that the Australian Financial Services licence held by Trive Financial Services Australia Pty Ltd was cancelled with effect from 1 July 2026. The formal ground for cancellation was straightforward: the firm was no longer carrying on a financial services business in Australia.
How Trive Got to This Point
The more revealing part is how Trive arrived there. It was one of 52 licensed CFD issuers examined by ASIC as part of a review of the entire contracts for difference sector. During that review the regulator found serious deficiencies in Trive's business and, on 28 April 2025, the firm agreed to stop onboarding new clients.
That step — agreeing to a voluntary restriction on new business — is typically the precursor to a more formal outcome. A firm that has stopped taking on new clients and is under active regulatory scrutiny for deficiencies in its operations is not a firm on a path to recovery. It is a firm managing its exit from the market under regulatory supervision.
A Business With Three Names
Trive is worth examining in the context of its full operating history. The company was incorporated in June 2012 and obtained its Australian Financial Services licence in July of that year under the name ILQ Australia Pty Ltd. In July 2018 it changed its name to Fairmarkets Trading Pty Ltd. In December 2023, a matter of months before ASIC found the deficiencies that would eventually end its licence, it adopted the Trive name.
That is three operating names in fourteen years. Each name change carries with it a shift in brand identity, a new website, new marketing materials, and a new presentation to prospective clients. What it does not carry is a new regulatory record. The AFSL number — 424122 — remained the same throughout, and the accumulated regulatory history followed that number regardless of what the company called itself.
What the Sector Review Found
ASIC's review of the CFD sector covered all 52 licensed issuers at the time of the review. The regulator did not publish a detailed breakdown of what it found at Trive specifically, but the decision to require the firm to stop onboarding new clients — and the eventual licence cancellation — indicates the deficiencies were substantive rather than administrative.
ASIC has noted in its broader CFD sector work that common deficiencies include inadequate product governance arrangements, conflicts of interest that are not properly managed, insufficient client suitability processes, and capital and operational inadequacies. The regulator has been explicit that it expects CFD issuers to have robust systems for ensuring products are distributed to appropriate clients and that those clients understand the risks involved.
The Significance of the Cancellation Ground
The ground on which ASIC cancelled the licence — that the firm was no longer carrying on a financial services business — is worth noting. It is the endpoint of a process, not its beginning. ASIC had already found the deficiencies. The firm had already stopped operating in the material sense. The licence cancellation formalised what had already happened in practice.
For retail clients who held accounts with Trive, the practical question is what recourse remains. ASIC requires firms to maintain AFCA membership and professional indemnity insurance while their licence is in force, precisely so that clients have an avenue for complaints and compensation when problems arise. Once the licence is cancelled, those requirements lapse, and the client's options narrow significantly.
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What This Means for Trive Clients
The Trive case follows a pattern that has become familiar in the Australian CFD sector: a firm operating under a long-standing licence, under a name its clients may not recognise as carrying a full fourteen-year regulatory history, that has changed its identity more than once and eventually accumulated deficiencies serious enough to end its ability to operate.
A broker under quiet regulatory pressure looks exactly like a broker that is fine, right up until it is not. And a company that has changed its name twice in a decade carries very little visible history with it. The AFSL number is the one constant.
Former Trive clients who have unresolved complaints or outstanding funds should contact AFCA as a matter of priority, before the window for complaints narrows further. Check the AFSL number — 424122 — against the ASIC register to confirm current status and any conditions or restrictions attached to the licence.
About the Company
About Trive
Regulator
ASIC (Australia)
Action Type
AFS Licence Cancellation
Penalty
Licence cancelled
Licence Number
AFSL 424122
Trive Financial Services Australia Pty Ltd was an Australian issuer of contracts for difference, holding Australian Financial Services licence number 424122 from July 2012. The company was incorporated in June 2012 and traded as ILQ Australia Pty Ltd until July 2018, then as Fairmarkets Trading Pty Ltd until December 2023, before adopting the Trive name.
It agreed to stop onboarding new clients in April 2025 following an ASIC review of the CFD sector that found serious deficiencies in its business. Its Australian licence was cancelled with effect from 1 July 2026.
Editor's note & source: Factual points are drawn from the ASIC media release 26-147MR. This article is not legal advice. Last updated: 26 July 2026.