Before submitting your application, you should have finalised your commercial and regulatory business plan, decided on what approval you need, organised your resources, and be ready to complete and submit our application forms.
Use Connect to submit your application to us.
Find out how to apply for authorisation using our online system Connect.
Forms
You will need to log on to Connect to create your application pack to submit your application to us.
Based on the type of asset manager you are and the legislation under which you need authorisation or registration, you will need the following forms.
Firm type |
Forms |
Further information |
Handbook rules |
Legislation |
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UK AIFMs |
The Alternative Investment Fund Managers (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 |
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UK MiFID |
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UK UCITS |
How to apply for authorisation Please submit a standard IMF pack |
The Collective Investment Schemes (Amendment etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 | COLLG 1A | |
UK UCITS |
How to apply for authorisation Please submit a standard IMF pack |
The Collective Investment Schemes (Amendment etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 |
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Residual CIS |
How to apply for authorisation Please submit a standard IMF pack |
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Authorised funds |
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Authorised and recognised funds
|
See UK UCITS and UK AIFMD See COLL and FUND |
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Recognised funds |
See COLL and FUND |
What happens to your application
We will let you know when a case officer has been assigned and keep you up to date with how your application is progressing. You can contact your case officer over email and over phone to:
- discuss your application progress
- understand the authorisation process
- obtain clarification on review queries
If you case officer needs clarity on any information during the assessment period, they will contact you by email. Once you have responded your case officer will consider your application in light of new information received from you. They might contact you more than once for more information.
If you are successful we will write to confirm your authorisation. If you are unsuccessful we will write to you to explain why we are refusing to authorise you.
You can withdraw your application at any point in time. Please note that we cannot make a fee refund to you in most circumstances. Find out more about our authorisation process.
How we determine your application
We consider every application against the relevant conditions in:
- FSMA
- UK statutory instruments
- our Handbook rules
All authorisation applications need to meet FSMA threshold conditions while AIFM small registration applications do not specifically need to meet threshold conditions in the same manner as a FSMA authorised firm.
We generally expect firms to be ready, willing, and able to conduct the business they are applying for. However, we also acknowledge that sometimes firms may undergo a change in their business model and want to make minor changes to their submission, while a determination of application is still underway.
Such changes could include scope of permission applied for, approved persons applied for, controllers, policies and procedures etc. We expect you to notify your case officer of possible changes before implementing those changes so that the case officer will be able to advise you if the changes can be included in the same application. Generally, we do accept minor changes to the application, however some changes require a completely new and separate application. This is determined on a case by case basis.
Timings
We must make a decision on your application within statutory time frames.
UK legislation/FSMA |
Decision made for complete application within: |
Decision made from receipt of application within: |
---|---|---|
UK MiFID |
6 months |
12 months |
UK AIFMD – small registered |
3 months |
6 months |
UK AIFMD – small authorised |
6 months |
12 months |
UK AIFMD full scope |
3 months (extendable if required) |
– |
UK UCITS |
6 months |
12 months |
Non UK AIF non UK UCITS FSMA firm |
6 months |
12 months |
'Minded to authorisation' or 'subject to authorisation' stage
We understand that it can be difficult to infuse regulatory capital, invest in expensive IT systems or other resource intensive aspects of the business, before you have more certainty on your authorisation request. In light of this, we try and notify you when we are minded to approve your application with a list of final information and/or evidence we need from you before we can approve your application.
To reach the minded to authorise stage, we will still need to review the planning and design element of those aspects to satisfy ourselves that once fully executed and implemented after the minded to authorisation stage, those systems, controls etc would meet and continue to meet the threshold conditions required by our rules for the firm to achieve authorisation.
The following could be allowed after a minded to decision (depending on your specific application situation) – evidence of:
- capitalisation of firm
- installation and testing of IT systems
- contact execution with vendors, employees etc
- completion of any specific training needed for individuals
- relocation of individuals to the UK