Individuals who seek to be authorised to carry out one or more activities for a regulated firm, called “controlled functions”, must submit an application to the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”). This includes Directors, Compliance Officer, MLRO and customer facing staff.

Haydon Thomas, Associate Director of Newgate Compliance, with over 20 years’ authorisation experience, provides some top tips to getting individuals authorised. 

Application Details 

• Firms should undertake due diligence checks on the individual prior to making an application. This includes carrying out criminal and credit checks, open source and Companies House searches and obtaining a regulatory reference. Newgate can arrange and handle these checks for your firm.

• Each person at the firm who will be carrying out a controlled function will need to complete a Form A. The Directors, Compliance Officer and MLRO of the firm will need to provide a CV.

• Section 5 of the Form A is a series of ‘Yes/No’ questions about the person’s fitness and propriety. Take great care in completing this section and if in doubt whether a matter should be disclosed or not, we recommend you disclose.

• More often than not, the FCA will take non-disclosure of a matter in the Form A more seriously than the matter itself. Non-disclosure whether innocent or deliberate can lead to the FCA refusing to approve the individual. If this Form A is part of an FCA authorisation application and the individual is a key person in the firm, it could result in the firm being refused.

• If you need to provide a CV, a simple CV covering the last 10 years with name of employer, job title, dates you worked there (from and to) and list of your responsibilities at the firm is fine. Include all qualifications and professional courses attended as this will help demonstrate your competence and capability. Make sure to explain any gaps in your CV (study, career break).

The Approved Persons regime will be replaced by the Senior Management & Certification Regime from 9 December 2019. A different application process will be in place at such time.

See also our article “Top Tips When Seeking FCA Authorisation”.

How Newgate Can Help

Whether you’re thinking of becoming an approved person, or your firm is seeking to ensure that its controlled functions are undertaken in a compliant manner, we offer unrivalled experience to ensure you meet your FCA obligations.

For more information on the approved persons process please contact us.