In November 2020, the FCA published a Consultation Paper (CP20/22) on changes in the way it will increase regulated fees and levies rates from 2021/2022.
The Regulator seeks to simplify and replace all FCA authorisation application fees and introduce new transaction fees; propose a structure of periodic fees for crypto-asset businesses and this Consultation Paper sets out proposals of the FCA’s consultation to introduce income to calculate periodic fees for firms that operate in OTFs and MTFs.
More specifically, a few of the proposed changes include:
- Introducing a fee for Change in Control applications of £500 and for Senior Managers applications of £250. Both fees will be charged for ‘first-time’ applications.
- Increasing FCA application fees, i.e. for a ‘simple’ application, there is an increase from the current amount of £1,500 to £2,500 and for a ‘moderately complex’ application the fee will increase from £5,000 to potentially up to £10,000.
The FCA state that the total cost of Authorisations in 2019 was £19 m. The application fees meanwhile raised revenue of £6.2m, equivalent to only 33% of the cost
A full list of the FCA’s proposed new fees is available in the Consultation Paper.
If these proposals are confirmed, the FCA will publish its final rules in their March 2021 Handbook Notice. The consultation period ends on 22nd January 2021.
