A Brief Guide on How Long FCA Authorization Actually Takes.
The FCA’s Published Targets
The FCA’s Published Targets outline what they aim to achieve for assuring applications. For straightforward applications the FCA aims to complete the assessment within 6 months of a complete submission. For more complex cases, such as those requiring multiple permissions, they aim to complete the assessment within 12 months. These are working targets and do not form part of any guarantee that a timely decision will be made. As with any timescale, the clock only starts when the FCA is satisfied that the application is complete.
The Completeness Check
However, before the FCA can start to assess your application for FCA authorisation, it will complete a completeness check to ensure that you have provided all the necessary documents. These include a regulatory business plan, financial projections, a description of how you intend to ensure the best possible compliance, and details of all approved persons, including individual forms which they must complete.
Common Causes of Delay
Many applications are put on hold due to thin financial projections and vague descriptions of how the applicant will manage and monitor compliance. Also delays occur due to lack of approved persons documentation. It is wise to check out how the FCA assessors look at applications for authorisation. See also www.adempi.co.uk/fca-authorisation.
What You Can Do Before Submitting
In preparing your application for FCA authorisation, it is essential to prepare a detailed Regulatory Business Plan, show 12 months of projected figures, and confirm all approved persons are ready to complete their individual forms as part of the application process. Please see Adempi for further information on this process.
Realistic Timelines
A straightforward application should be completed within 6-9 months of submission, but applications requiring more complex consideration (e.g. involving multiple permissions) could take up to 12 months or more to complete, particularly if FCA queries are raised as part of the review process.
By preparing well in advance of submitting an application for FCA authorization, you can avoid a host of problems and potentially lengthy delays.
