FCA Authorisation
Whether you are seeking to conduct activities in relation to investments, payments, mortgage, consumer credit or claims management, your firm will need to be authorised by the FCA in order to trade unless you benefit from exclusion or an exemption.
Obtaining FCA authorisation means that you must demonstrate that your firm’s business model is one that meets the FCA’s rules, requirements and minimum standards i.e. threshold conditions. Applicants must have appropriate systems and controls and resources in order to conduct a proposed activity. Applicants who fail to meet these conditions and expectations will not be authorised by the FCA.
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If you are looking to become authorised by the FCA, MEMA can help. Each applicant who works with MEMA is assigned a dedicated Regulatory Director who will support you throughout your application, answering queries you may have relating to the application and providing you with guidance and support.
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The process starts with a fact find between yourself and one of our Regulatory Directors where we’ll get to know you and your business and how you intend to provide your services.
We will provide you with advice and guidance on how to comply with the FCA’s requirements and identify any risks.
We will then produce for you a series of documents to support your application and help ensure that you become authorised. These documents include a Regulatory Business Plan and Compliance Monitoring Plan. We also produce a compliance manual for you containing documentation for you to implement into your business upon authorisation to help enable you to comply with the FCA’s requirements.
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An online application will then be completed along with all relevant forms, which will then be submitted to the FCA.
Should there be any FCA questions, your Regulatory Adviser will work with you to draft a full response.
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In short, we’re here for our clients every step of the way. We provide our clients with the benefit of our knowledge and experience to not only help ensure that your application is successful, but that your business has the right foundations to ensure positive customer outcomes.
Looking to Benefit from an Exclusion or Exemption?
Dependent upon your business model some applicants need not seek out authorisation FCA where exclusion or exemption is available. These only apply in select instances and vary between activity e.g. mortgage and insurance activity.
A firm may be exempt where it is a professional firm, for example, a solicitor, or where the structure of a financial service falls outside of regulation as may be the case where firms offer the ability to pay in instalments which if applicable must satisfy certain conditions. Exemptions also apply to Appointed Representatives as they are not directly authorised by the FCA and instead work on behalf of a Principal.
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An activity that may ordinarily be regulated may be unregulated where exclusion is available. This could include exempt insurance or mortgage activity which anyone can engage in, whether a professional firm or otherwise.
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Those seeking to rely on an exemption or exclusion need to be certain that there is no need to become directly authorised by the FCA. If you are unsure, MEMA may be able to help.
Ongoing FCA Compliance
As an FCA authorised person or firm, you might need help to ensure you comply with the FCA’s rules.
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We provide our clients with support they need to maintain compliance and avoid breaching the rules. Our bespoke service is individually tailored to each of our client’s requirements and objectives to help them meet in the best way possible.
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Whether you need documentation to help you remain compliant, want ongoing advice or support, impartial monitoring of your activities or anything else, MEMA may be able to help.
Why Choose MEMA?
MEMA has been supporting firms through the FCA compliance process since 2019. In that time, we have helped hundreds of businesses to successfully gain and retain FCA authorisation.
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We have a unique blend of experience from ex-regulators, big 4 consultants and fin/regtech specialisation. Our team is highly experienced and expertly skilled. We specialise in providing our clients with solutions to often complex regulatory requirements and compliance needs.
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Our unique industry insight and comfort with compliance enables our team to support you to the fullest extent possible, helping to develop your business model and compliance.
