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Public methodology · /methodology/finance

Finance methodology

The Money domain covers onshore-authorised leaves under a shared A/B/C/M scoring grammar. This page explains who earns a regulatory signal, when a composite number is published, and how forex differs from payments.

Active methodology · v2.1·Last recompute · 15 Sept 2026 · 05:02 UTC
Public score not yet published for this vertical
Brands render an evidence profile — measured facts and counts — until these weights are certified. No 0–10 number is shown for any brand in this vertical today.
§1

Onshore-authorised-only Block-A

A brand earns a Block-A regulatory signal for a country only when it holds a live home-regulator authorisation in that country — FCA (GB), ASIC (AU), FINRA/SEC (US) or CIRO/CSA (CA) for forex; the equivalent payments registers for payments and neobanks. A brand without a register match is recorded as offshore and is never scored; it may appear only as factual or warning-list context. Authorisation is read from a regulator-register capture, never inferred from marketing copy.

§2

Two render modes, by measurability

Payments is scored in measured mode: a measured-product block observes publicly listed transfer cost, FX spread versus the interbank mid-rate, and delivery speed. A payments provider carries a composite number once enough verified evidence exists.

Forex & CFDs and Neobanks are, for now, facts-without-number. There is no measured-product block until a funded execution/tick-data source exists (forex) or the aspect catalogue is signed (neobank), so IndexFair publishes regulatory authorisation and user-reported experience but no composite rating.

§3

Per-leaf methodology

Forex & CFDs

Facts without number — no composite until measured execution data exists.

Read the forex methodology →
Payments & Transfers

Measured mode — composite once enough verified transfer-cost evidence exists.

Read the payments methodology →
§4

Aspect catalogues (provisional)

The forex, payments, and neobank aspect sets are provisional and are not yet frozen. They are finalised by a separate editorial decision before each leaf publishes a number.

§5

Independence

Finance — forex especially — is the category with the strongest affiliate temptation. IndexFair takes no affiliate inducement, runs no “editor's pick”, and gives every brand the same informational outbound link. The rating is an independent analytical judgement, not a financial promotion.

§6

What we do not do

  • We do not accept brand payment to alter, reorder, or suppress scores.
  • We do not surface review text verbatim — aggregate metrics only.
  • We do not promote brands by ranking position. Order is computed; placement is not for sale.
  • We do not use marketing language. Words like "the best", "leading", "trusted" do not appear.
  • We do not recommend a brand by name in editorial copy.
Information accurate as of 15 Sept 2026. Always verify operator T&Cs directly.
Independent analytical platform — IndexFair does not accept brand payment to alter scores.
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