Key changes to the FCA authorisation process - A guide to submitting a FCA authorisation application

The FCA’s authorisation process is already a rigorous and complicated undertaking for any new firm looking to join the UK financial services market. This process has been exasperated by external factors such as ongoing issues related to COVID 19 and Brexit, and the FCA’s stricter approach when it comes to reviewing applications. The regulator is looking for businesses wishing to carry out prescribed ‘regulated activities’ to demonstrate that they are ‘ready, willing and organised’ to be regulated, with robust systems and controls needed to manage regulatory risks and a firm-wide understanding of the FCA’s current priorities In this webinar, Richard Corbyn (Director, Authorisations) and Panayiotis Antoniou (Head, Risk Management and Prudential Services) discussed some of the key changes that firms looking to apply for direct FCA authorisation will face. During this webinar, we discussed: What it means, in practice, to be ‘ready, willing and organised’ The FCA’s threshold conditions for authorisation The FCA’s principles for business Changes to the FCA’s authorisation fee structure Changes to the capital requirements firms need to be regulated