Retail finance: Change to FCA authorisation
Posted on in Business News , Cycles News
The following change to FCA authorisation only applies to businesses that have FCA Authorisation for Limited Permission Secondary Credit Brokering, meaning businesses that can offer regulated POS retail finance. If your business holds additional authorisations or is dual regulated, in other words it is also regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), you should seek independent advice.
The FCA have announced that on the 9th December 2019 the Approved Persons Regime (APR) will be replaced with the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR). If your business holds an FCA authorisation you will be receiving emails from the FCA about this which you should read and check all the details are still correct; in particular that the current Approved Person still works for the business.
The good news is a business with a limited scope authorisation will automatically have their APR function converted to the corresponding Senior Management Functions and no form is required.
To check your firm has a limited scope function search the FCA register for your business (use either your business name or firm registration number (FRN)) and expand the ‘Permissions' section which should show the following.
If you are in any doubt you should contact the FCA directly on 0300 500 0597. If you don't currently have FCA authorisation contact the ActSmart team to discuss.