Information on variation of firms' permissions - November 2023

Information on amendments to DEPP and FEES as a result of a new power given in the Financial Services Act 2021 to the FCA to cancel or vary FCA-authorised firms' Part 4A permissions.

Please provide the following information: 

1. The number of firms sent notifications by the FCA regarding the potential cancellation of their unused permissions.
2. The number of overall notifications sent by the FCA regarding the potential cancellation of their unused permissions. 
3. The number of firms that had permissions cancelled by the FCA as a result of these notifications.
4. The total number of permissions or activities held by the firms whose Part 4A permission were cancelled by the FCA.

For questions 1 and 2, as at 16 October 2023, 1,044 notifications were sent to 762 firms where it appeared the firms were not carrying on regulated activities.

For question 3, there were a total of 304 firm cancellations overall as at 16 October 2023. We would like to explain that this figure is a total of firms who have applied to cancel after receiving a notice from the FCA and firms where the FCA has exercised it powers under Schedule 6A of FSMA to cancel the firm’s Part 4A permission.

For question 4, there were a total of 1152 permissions held by the firms whose Part 4A permission were cancelled by the FCA as at 16 October 2023.