FCA authorisation for investment business in the United Kingdom

About This Company

Primary legislation governing this Part 4A investment permission is the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (c. 8), in force from 2001-12-01. Under Section 55V of FSMA 2000, fresh applicant authorisations require a statutory decision period of 6 months for a complete submission or 12 months for an incomplete file. Observed determinations in Q4 2025/26 across 310 Part 4A solo-regulated authorisations revealed a median elapsed determination time of 138 calendar days. That cohort recorded a lower quartile of 105 days alongside an upper quartile of 183 days. Submitting a fresh authorisation also requires application fees between GBP 2,820 for Category 4 advisory firms and GBP 11,260 for Category 6 trading entities. London houses the supervisory regulator. An acquirer follows the change of control route instead under FSMA Section 189. This assessment runs for a statutory period of 60 business days following complete notification acknowledgment by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Regulators can pause the review a single time for an extension of 30 business days when requesting outstanding details. Obtaining control without prior consent constitutes a criminal offence under Section 191F, applying at thresholds of 10%, 20%, 30%, as well as 50% of voting rights. Before signing, the buyer inspects the Financial Services Register using the 6-digit reference number to verify current permissions.