Reference Case Number: FOI9741
Freedom of Information: Right to know request:
- The average time taken for the Financial Conduct Authority to process new authorisations for firm
- The average time taken for the FCA to process Section 178 notices (change of control of a firm)
I would like this data for each of the last five years with a year-end of 31 October 2022 or whichever year-end is most convenient. If you are unable to provide five years of data, please provide three years of data. If this is not possible, please provide two years of data.
FCA response:
Please be aware that the new Authorisation cases are Part 4As and include Payment Services. For the Change in Control cases, these are pre-notifications only.
|
Process |
Date Range |
Average Calendar Days |
|---|---|---|
|
New Authorisations |
1 Nov 2017 to 31 Oct 2018 |
85 |
|
1 Nov 2018 to 31 Oct 2019 |
79 |
|
|
1 Nov 2019 to 31 Oct 2020 |
100 |
|
|
1 Nov 2020 to 31 Oct 2021 |
136 |
|
|
1 Nov 2021 to 31 Oct 2022 |
159 |
|
|
Change in Control |
1 Nov 2017 to 31 Oct 2018 |
32 |
|
1 Nov 2018 to 31 Oct 2019 |
40 |
|
|
1 Nov 2019 to 31 Oct 2020 |
43 |
|
|
1 Nov 2020 to 31 Oct 2021 |
63 |
|
|
1 Nov 2021 to 31 Oct 2022 |
98 |
The FCA operates a robust gateway to protect consumers and the integrity of markets, but also recognises that there are factors which meant an increased assessment time for some applications, these include:
- Increased scrutiny at the gateway.
- Incomplete or poor-quality applications which needed material extra work by the applicant.
- Increased volume of change in control notifications.
In October 2022, we published an update on our operating service metrics for authorisations which sets out how we are looking to bring down the approval times for authorisations: FCA authorisations update[1].
We also publish and monitor our operating service metrics to ensure transparency and accountability. Further information can be found here: FCA operating service metrics 2021/22[2].