Economy
How to Get FCA Authorization for Your Business: By Compliance Experts
Introduction
In the world of competitive and thriving markets, financial governance and clear regulations are essential. This helps protect the government and ensures to maintain reliability and trustworthiness.
As more businesses take the financial market, innovation can appear to prioritize other fundamental business considerations. The process can be too complex. Hence, many seek the help of professionals. This is where Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) compliance comes into the frame.
FCA compliance is a kind of reality check for businesses offering different financial services. It is responsible for regulating all the financial services in the UK.
This regulation helps the business with healthy competition in the market and increases the overall integrity of the financial services.
Today, we will discuss the FCA services and how you should prepare for FCA.
Who Need To Be FCA Approved?
While FCA is an important document to have, it is not necessary that every business will need one. Yes, every business can have one to solidify its credibility, but not every business will need one to operate.
Any business that intends to carry out activities specified by the Regulated Activities Order 2001 or Payment Service Regulation 2017 must obtain FCA.
Here are a few business operations that need to have FCA authorization. If your business has any one of them, then you would need FCA.
- Money institutions.
- Wholesale investment firms.
- Payment service institutions.
- Insurance intermediaries.
- Any financial services.
Generally, firms that are associated with regulated activities such as accepting deposits, issuing digital money, managing investments, or dealing in the trade market, need to be FCA authorized.
How Should You Prepare For FCA?
The FCA expects the firms to take the process seriously. They want companies to take into account that everything will meet the standard of FCA protocol. When a company applies for the FCA, FCA divides them into three categories.
- Ready
- Willing
- Organized
Ready
The FCA will consider an applicant READY if they have been preparing to submit the application. Here are the positive indicators you need to be aware of.
- Making inquiries of the FCA’s contact centre.
- Reading information from the FCA’s official website.
- Seeking legal compliance.
- Directing your regulatory obligations.
Willing
Once the phase of READY is offered, the FCA will consider the WILLINGNESS with these positive indicators.
- Being proactive in getting information on FCA.
- Be honest in your dealings with FCA.
- Demonstrating efforts to understand the FCA regulations.
- Availability of the staff to deal with inquiries.
Organized
The FCA considers you as ORGANIZED if you have prepared yourself with all the necessary documents for the applications. For instance, FCA might consider –
- The reason behind your application.
- What might act as a barrier to prevent you from doing what you have applied for?
- They see if you will be able to comply with the rules if you are authorized.
FCA’s Threshold Conditions
The FCA’s threshold conditions are set on a minimum requirement. If a business wants to be qualified for the FCA, it must meet these base minimums. Failing to meet these minimum requirements, your business will fail to achieve FCA.
The threshold conditions are as follows.
- Business model.
- Appropriate resources.
- Location of the office.
- Effective supervision.
- Suitability
After your application Is Submitted
After your application is submitted, FCA goes through the document to determine whether you meet the minimum requirement. The authorization is namely READY, WILLING, and ORGANIZED.
FCA expects the application to have all the necessary information about the business, business module, business operations, and everything to keep things transparent. This also helps the FCA determine the application and give consent.
After going through the application, if FCA feels like substantive changes need to be done, they can ask you to take back your application and make the necessary changes.
Finally, you must keep a close eye on your permission. The Financial Services Act 2021 allows FCA to modify your permission. This happens when FCA finds that you are not using your authorization properly or have diverted from out after getting the authorization.
So, avoid applying for the regulated activity that you won’t need. It will only add to your business complexities in the future. Instead, apply for FCA when you know everything about it.
How Long Does It Take To Obtain FCA?
The timeline for applying to the FCA and registration are set by the FCA. It is not a speedy process, as your business is evaluated on different levels. Depending on your business size, it can take six months or even a year.
So, instead of thinking about how to fasten the process, you must focus on preparing the right document and business modules.
Have queries? Drop them in the comment section. We will ensure every query is answered.
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited suffered its first loss this week with a 0.46 per cent decline on Friday, influenced by profit-taking.
The market was under selling pressure yesterday, with all the key sectors of the bourse closing in red when the gong was struck by 2:30 pm.
The commodity index was down by 1.94 per cent, the insurance sector depreciated by 0.22 per cent, the industrial goods space lost 0.18 per cent, the consumer goods counter went down by 0.05 per cent, the energy industry tumbled by 0.02 per cent, and the banking sector fell by 0.01 per cent.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) contracted by 498.56 points to 108,733.40 points from 109,231.96 points and the market capitalisation retreated by N314 billion to N68.339 trillion from N68.653 trillion.
The market participants traded 459.2 million equities valued at N11.2 billion in 15,723 deals on Friday versus the 554.1 million equities worth N14.4 billion traded 16,704 deals in the preceding session, implying a decrease in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 17.13 per cent, 22.22 per cent, and 5.87 per cent apiece.
Tantalizers traded 101.4 million shares for N237.3 million, GTCO exchanged 51.3 million equities worth N3.5 billion, Access Holdings transacted 45.2 million stocks valued at N975.3 million, Zenith Bank sold 21.8 million shares worth N1.1 billion, and Sterling Holdings transacted 15.5 million equities valued at N91.8 million.
The heaviest price loser was Transcorp Power with a decline of 9.98 per cent to settle at N328.50, Haldane McCall fell by 9.57 per cent to N4.25, Meyer lost 9.09 per cent to trade at N8.00, Regency Alliance dropped 6.78 per cent to finish at 55 Kobo, and Sunu Assurances crumbled by 6.73 per cent to N4.99.
On the flip side, ABC Transport chalked up 10.00 per cent to quote at N2.86, Sterling Holdings also expanded by 10.00 per cent to close at N6.05, Chellarams improved by 9.94 per cent to N10.40, Academy Press gained 9.92 per cent to finish at N4.32, and Red Star Express appreciated by 9.90 per cent to N5.55.
Business Post reports that a total of 34 stocks appreciated, while 32 stocks depreciated, indicating a positive market breadth index and bullish investor sentiment despite the loss recorded by Customs Street during the session.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Four stocks weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.46 per cent on Friday, May 9, bringing down the market capitalisation by N9.02 billion to N1.935 trillion from N1.944 trillion quoted at the preceding session, as the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) dropped 15.42 points to settle at 3,304.74 points, in contrast to the 3,320.16 points recorded a day earlier.
Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) went down by N1.28 during the trading session to finish at N22.60 per share versus Thursday’s value of N23.88 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc lost N1.00 to close at N40.03 per unit compared with previous closing value of N41.03 per unit, Geo-Fluids Plc depreciated by 11 Kobo to end at N1.81 per share versus the previous session’s N1.92 per share, and UBN Property Plc shrank by 4 Kobo to trade at N1.96 per unit, in contrast to the N2.00 per unit it was sold in the preceding day.
However, the price of Impresit Bakolori Plc went up by 11 Kobo yesterday to close at N1.27 per share versus the previous day’s price of N1.16 per share.
The volume of transactions went down on Friday by 33.1 per cent to 231.6 million units from the 346.3 million units recorded a day earlier, the value of trades decreased by 31.3 per cent to N606.4 million from N882.8 million, while the number of deals increased by 256.3 per cent to 57 deals from 16 deals.
At the close of trading activities, Impresit Bakolori Plc remained the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 533.9 million units worth N520.9 million, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 265.8 million units valued at N469.5 million, and Okitipupa Plc with 153.6 million units sold for N4.9 billion.
Similarly, Okitipupa Plc was the most traded stock by value (year-to-date) with 153.6 million units worth N4.9 billion, trailed by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 19.9 million units valued at N765.5 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 533.9 million units sold for N520.9 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira was relatively flat against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, May 9, though it marginally shed 0.2 per cent or 7 Kobo to settle at N1,609.64/$1, in contrast to the preceding day’s N1,609.57/$1.
Also, the Nigerian Naira traded flat against the Pound Sterling and the Euro in the official market during the session, remaining unchanged at N2,145.48/£1 and N1,818.42/€1, respectively.
In the same vein, the value of the domestic currency to the Dollar remained unchanged in the parallel market yesterday at N1,625/$1, according to data obtained by Business Post.
As for the cryptocurrency market, it remained positive as President Donald Trump announced a comprehensive trade deal with the UK and the cumulative inflows into the spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) hit a record high above $40 billion.
According to market analysts, this has led to substantial liquidations of bearish short positions, or leveraged plays aimed at profiting from price losses. A position is liquidated or forced closed when the trader’s account balance falls below the required margin level, often due to adverse price movements. This leads the exchange to close the position to prevent further losses automatically.
Meanwhile, the US and China are said to be working on a trade deal but many are skeptical of a deal being reached this month.
Dogecoin (DOGE) appreciated by 7.6 per cent to sell at $0.2229, Litecoin (LTC) improved its value by 5.5 per cent to quote at $103.51, Binance Coin (BNB) rose by 4.6 per cent to $663.22, and Solana (SOL) recorded a 3.6 per cent growth to sell at $171.52.
Further, the price of Ripple (XRP) went up by 1.4 per cent $2.37, Ethereum (ETH) jumped by 0.8 per cent to sell for $2,366.49, and Cardano (ADA) gained 0.7 per cent to trade at $0.7952, while Bitcoin (BTC) went down by 0.3 per cent to $103,670.89, with the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) trading flat at $1.00 each.
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