Firms and individuals may request changes to the regulated activities they are permitted do. This section shows how quickly we have considered and responded to notifications and requests to vary or cancel permissions.
Alterations to a collective investment scheme (CIS)
Operators of authorised funds and overseas collective investment schemes (that are recognised as individual schemes under FSMA) must notify us of certain proposed changes to their funds or schemes.
We normally acknowledge these notifications and provide written approval. If we do not meet our service level, then the proposal receives automatic approval 1 month after we received the notification.
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We have continued to maintain our 100% performance in considering any relevant alterations to schemes.
Variation of permission
FSMA firms may change the nature of their business and apply to add, vary, or remove any regulated activities, investment or customer types. They may also apply to add, vary or remove a requirement or limitation to or from the scope of their Part 4A permission (firm authorisation).
We have a statutory requirement to process a complete application from an authorised firm for a variation of permission within 6 months or 12 months of receiving an incomplete application.
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We have maintained our performance in processing applications for variation of authorised permissions. From 2025/26, we made a minor change to how we calculate adherence for variation of permissions, following a systems update. This may result in small inconsistencies when comparing data with previous years.
Cancellation of Part 4A permission
An authorised person with permission to carry on regulated activities (Part 4A permission) can apply to us to cancel their permission. We can refuse an application for cancellation if it may cause harm to consumers. For example, if a firm has outstanding customer complaints.
We have a statutory requirement to determine a complete application for cancellation of Part 4A permission within 6 months. We have 12 months from receipt of an incomplete application.
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We have continued to meet our performance target by determining 98.1% of cancellation requests within the deadline in 2025/26.
Notification of a proposed change in control
We have a statutory requirement to make a decision after receiving a complete notification of a proposed change in control. Our target is to do this within 60 working days of acknowledgement of receipt.
A ‘controller’ is a person who holds shares in, can control voting power or is able to exert significant influence over a UK-authorised firm or a parent of a UK-authorised firm. We require notifications from proposed controllers and relevant firms before acquiring or increasing control (Part 12 of FSMA). The legislation allows us to object to the acquisition of or increase in control, or to approve with conditions. More information can be found on control thresholds or bands[1] and change in control requirements[2].
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We narrowly missed our performance target by making decisions in 99.9% of cases in the 60 working day timeline.
We missed our target due to 1 case where there was an operational error.