Information on change in control applications - April 2026

Information was sought on changes in control under Part XII of the Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA), specifically:

1. The number of applications received and approved, and the average time taken to approve them, broken down by month over the last three years (to 31 January 2025).
2. The number of notifications where the ultimate parent undertaking / ultimate beneficial owner (UBO) was headquartered outside the UK and EU, including how many were approved, broken down by month for the year to 31 January 2025.
3. The number of notifications received about changes of control taking place without prior approval, broken down by month over the last three years (to 31 January 2025).

Following engagement with the FCA, the scope of the request was refined. The second question was narrowed (shorter timeframe and removal of the request for average duration), and it was confirmed that if this part remained over the cost limit, responses were required to questions 1 and 3 only.

We were unable to provide information for question 2. Although the scope was reduced, complying with this part of the request would still exceed the cost limit under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (cost of compliance exceeds the appropriate limit). Further explanation is set out in Annex A of the response.
We provided information in response to:

• Question 1: the number of change in control applications received and approved, and the average time taken to approve them, broken down by month over the specified three-year period.
• Question 3: the number of notifications received about changes of control taking place without prior approval, broken down by month over the specified three-year period.

We acknowledge your revised request regarding question 2. You have specified a timeframe of one year and are no longer requesting the average duration length of time taken for approval. 

Having considered the scope of the information you are seeking, we estimate that responding to question 2 of your refined request would still exceed the cost limit allowed under FOIA and therefore the exemption under section 12 (Cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit) applies. For more information on why this exemption applies, please see Annex A below.

In reference to your earlier request (FOI2026/00421), we proposed a refinement to address questions 1 and 3. As outlined in your refined request, since we are unable to answer question 2, answers to questions 1 and 3 are now provided below: