The Applications Team are all specialists in the area of FSA applications and forms and with their combined experience they are able to submit every application completed to a high specification, which means that it is likely to be dealt with in a shorter time. They will assist with the completion of the forms, ensure that you have all the relevant information to hand and guide you through any issues that may arise. They have now processed over 1000 applications and are therefore able to spot most potential problems at the outset.

The following information may be useful to you if you are currently considering becoming directly regulated:

 

 

FSA Application Fee £1,500
VOP £750

Annual Fees

Full Permissions (Investments)

1st Adviser £1650

2nd – 4th £967

5th – 10th £944

11th - 25th £906

26th – 500th £835

Mortgage Firm

£650 + £4.58 per £1,000 over £100,000 t/o (£325 if have full permissions)

GI Firm

£410 + £3.88 per £1,000 over £100,000 t/o (£205 if have full permissions)

FSCS

Investment permissions £1,294.25 (per adviser)
Est costs payable in 1st fiscal yr £32
Mortgage £tba (per firm)
GI £9.87 (per firm)

FOS

£45 (Per RI) Investment, although 1 RI pays £50 minimum fee

£50 per firm Mortgages

£50 per firm General Insurance 

 

FSA transitional fees

The fees for the first year are taken pro rata, please see below for a guide on how much you will be charged depending on the date that you become directly regulated:

1st April - 30th June 100%
1st July - 30th September 75%
1st October - 31st December 50%
1st January - 31st March 25%

First bill from the FSA will be received within 3 months of authorisation and will be expected to be paid within 28 days.

AIFA members get the option to pay FSA fees monthly. Non-AIFA members will be asked to pay in one lump sum.

Before FSA Approval
It is likely that the FSA will raise a number of questions during the application process, SimplyBiz will assist you in dealing with these queries.

Once the FSA have completed their intial vetting of an application they will advise you / us that the application is to be passed to committee. At this point the FSA will also request permission from you to obtain a reference from your host network, if applicable. It is at this final stage that your firm will need to resign from the network.

Timing and giving notice to your network
You should only resign when you are confident that you will have an authorised firm to move to.

Once you have resigned you are unlikely to receive outstanding commissions until any unearned indemnity commission liability is less that the commission due to you. This may also apply during the networks notice period.

Your network will establish what your clawback liability is.

PI charges made by networks
You need to be aware the PI cover is usually taken out by the networks on an annual basis, but deductions are made from your account monthly. These deductions continue until the end of the policy year, which varies for each network. In order to avoid having a further year's PI premium to your current network it is essential that you have fully exited by giving adequate notice and have fufilled all obligations so that you can be released before the ensuing renewal date. Please contact your network for confirmation of this information. You should keep in mind that this process could take longer than 3 months.


Confirmation of authorisation
Your direct regulation authorisation will normally be confirmed within approximately two weeks of you being notified that your application is going to committee. Only when this has been confirmed and, if appropriate, your current network notice has been completed, can you start operating new agencies for your newly directly authorised firm.

If you are starting a new trading entity then you should not need to wait until you have completed your notice period with your network before you can start to trade.

 

Click on the link below to calculate the FSA fees relevant to you.