AUTHORISATION
A business which intends to provide regulated investment services in or from within the United Kingdom will be required to obtain and apply for the appropriate authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) prior to undertaking any regulated activity.
The applicant will be expected to present a full application pack containing the exact information required by the FCA in order to obtain its licence within a reasonable time-frame.
Irrespective of whether applying for authorisation under the United Kingdom’s implementation of MiFID or AIFMD (or their respective equivalents), the applicant must be able to demonstrate its legal form, location of offices, implementation of its systems and controls, approved persons, and fitness and propriety.
An application for authorisation to provide investment services is an involved process, and comprises of submitting the relevant application documents and providing information necessary for the FCA to make an informed decision.