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Successful FCA applications

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Winner of Best Financial Services Compliance Consultancy 2020 - 2023

2000+

Happy customers served

Types of investment compliance services

As an FCA regulated firm in the investment sector, your regulatory responsibilities can often feel like a burden. We make keeping compliant a lighter lift.

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Applications

Know if you’re ready for the FCA and what to expect from the authorisation process, with support from an investment compliance expert the whole way

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Compliance support

As your firm grows and changes, we’ll be beside you to offer commercially-focused and risk-balanced investment compliance services, advice and hands-on delivery

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Audits and advisory

From due diligence for a merger or acquisition, to FCA investigations or changes in your regulatory responsibilities, we deliver technical advice, in plain English

Wondering how long it’ll take? What your options are? Where to start? Or whether you’re ready to become authorised?

Head to our FCA authorisation FAQs

CASS Audits

The FCA’s client money and custody assets rules, known as CASS, have been a particular focus for the regulator since the financial crisis of 2008. The CASS rules are intended to protect client money and custody assets by ensuring they are adequately segregated in the event of a firm’s or its custodian’s failure.  

The CASS rules apply at all times, and your standards must remain at the same high level. Whether by carrying out a high-level review of your CASS arrangements or a full review of your processes, we can assess the adequacy of your CASS controls and provide proportionate and effective recommendations for improvements where needed. If you are expecting a CASS external audit, we can help you prepare before the auditor arrives, advise you on findings before the report is finalised or assist you with any remedial work needed. 

 

Find out more ➜

Financial crime prevention

Keep on top of your financial crime compliance and understand your responsibilities, with hands-on support from our world-class regulatory experts

 

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Who we support

We support these types of organisations to keep innovating
  • Agency Brokerages
  • Family Offices
  • FX & CFD brokerages
  • AIFMs
  • Hedge Funds
  • Robo Advisors
  • Commodity Futures & Options Brokerages
  • Retail & Institutional Wealth Managers
  • Social Trading Platforms
  • Corporate Finance Advisors
  • Investment Advisors
  • Stockbrokers
  • Discretionary Fund Managers
  • Investment Managers
  • Trading Signal Providers
  • Exchanges and Trading Platforms
  • Private Equity & Venture Capital
  • Consumer Credit
  • General Insurance
  • IFAs
  • Investments Product Providers
  • Mortgage Brokers / Lenders
  • Pension Scheme Operators/Providers
  • Restricted Financial Advisers
  • System Providers
  • Trade Associations
And many more...

Acquisition Due Diligence

We have been helping UK and overseas firms acquire FCA regulated businesses since 2012. Over that time we have handled regulatory due diligence on more than 60 regulated entities, advising on transactions worth over £5 billion.

If you are looking at acquiring a regulated firm, our expert team can help. We offer a range of acquisition due diligence services to help you fully understand the regulatory risk any transaction poses.

View our Acquisition Due Diligence downloadable guide

Pollen Street
Mattioli-Woods

Pollen Street Capital acquisition of Mattioli Woods

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8 March 2024
Charlesbank
Perspective

Perspective Financial Group Limited being acquired by Charlesbank Capital Partners LLC

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12 February 2024
Skerritts-Logo-2
Chadwick McLean

Skerritts Group acquisition of Chadwick McLean

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19 December 2023
Liberate Wealth-1
Stafford House Investments

Liberate Wealth acquisition of Stafford House Investments

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11 December 2023
Telford Mann-1
Titan Wealth-1

Telford Mann completed its transaction with Titan Wealth

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24 November 2023
Titan Wealth-1
Parthenon Capital - Logo

Titan Wealth completed its transaction with Parthenon Capital

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21 November 2023
Titan Wealth-1
Prism Financial Advice Ltd - logo

Titan Wealth acquisition of Prism Financial Advice Ltd

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12 October 2023
Skerritts-Logo-2
Ambrose-Fisher-Logo

Skerritts Group acquisition of Ambrose Fisher Ltd

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2 October 2023
One-Four-Nine-Group

One Four Nine Group acquisition of 1st Chartered Financial Planning

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25 September 2023
Wren Sterling-3
Stock and Co deal

Wren Sterling acquisition of Stockdale & Co deal

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22 September 2023
One-Four-Nine-Group
Rainbird & Co-1

One Four Nine Group acquisition of Rainbird & Co

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18 July 2023
Wren Sterling-2
RB-financial-logo

Wren Sterling acquisition of Ralston Bennett Financial Planning and Callisto Wealth

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25 May 2023
Titan Wealth
RAVENSCROFT-MASTER-LOGO

Titan Wealth acquisition of Ravenscroft Investment

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24 May 2023
Wren-Sterling

Wren Sterling acquisition of Active Wealth Management Limited and HB&O Financial Services

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5 April 2023
Skerritts-Logo-2
Mercier Allen and Associates-1

Skerritts acquisition of Mercier Allen Associates

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4 April 2023
Craven Street-1
Bernard Barrett Associates-1

Craven Street Wealth acquisition of Bernard Barrett Associates

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10 March 2023
Titan-Wealth
Parthenon Capital-1

Titan Wealth Holdings acquisition of Parthenon Capital Investment

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2 March 2023
Wren Sterling

Wren Sterling acquisition of Morfitt & Turnball

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23 January 2023
Telford Mann
Titan-Wealth

Telford Mann acquisition by Titan Wealth Holdings

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4 January 2023
Verso-Wealth-Management
IEP-Financial

Verso Wealth Management acquisition of IEP Financial

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15 December 2022
Verso-Wealth-Management
Heritage

Verso Wealth Management acquisition of Heritage

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15 December 2022
Skerritts Logo greeen and blue
PS Financial Advisers Ltd Logo

Skerritts Group acquisition of PS Financial Advisers Ltd

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1 September 2022
Verso-Wealth-Management
Campbell

Verso Wealth Management acquisition of Campbell Thomson Insurance Services

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22 August 2022
One-Four-Nine-Group
Russell-Gibson

One Four Nine Group acquisition of Russell Gibson Financial Management

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12 August 2022
Preservation-Capital-Partners
Saltus

Preservation Capital Partners becoming majority shareholder of Saltus Group

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4 August 2022
One-Four-Nine-Group
APC

One Four Nine Group acquisition of APC Financial Solutions & Consultancy Services

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22 July 2022
GlobalX
Etoro
Oaktree
Seccl
Revolut
The Investment Firms Prudential Regime (IFPR)

The Investment Firms Prudential Regime (IFPR)

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Launching an Appointed Representative

Launching an Appointed Representative

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Launching a bespoke Appointed Representative

Launching a bespoke Appointed Representative

Read the case study
The level of assistance and advice Thistle provide is first rate. Thistle’s help was key in all of our applications to the FCA; all have been successful quickly.
Jefferson Capital Ltd

What our investment clients have to say

“Thistle Initiatives provide us with invaluable expertise with their ongoing compliance support and delivered end-to-end assistance with our FCA application to add Alternative Investment Fund Management to our permissions. The service from the team is always on-point and efficient; we highly recommend them.”

London & Oxford Group
London & Oxford Group

“Our experience of working with Thistle Initiatives to add our CASS permissions has been great. Thistle helped to create the application to vary our FCA permissions and helped to respond to the FCA’s detailed questions following submission. Thistle assisted quickly and clearly at all times, including during the more complex aspects of the process.”

Cirdan Capital
Cirdan Capital

“Our experience of working with Thistle Initiatives has been exceptionally good. After due consideration and comparison of various service providers, WMG Advisors engaged Thistle to perform an external review of our systems and controls, our policies and procedures and to provide ongoing training to meet our compliance needs. Thistle deployed serious resources to the project, and provided comprehensive analysis and recommendations. Thistle has responded quickly and clearly to all of our requests to date. We continue to be impressed with both the methodology and the people that we deal with throughout their organisation.”

WMG-Funds
WMG Funds LLP

Some of our recent investment blog posts

Introducing the Consumer Duty – A Dynamic Journey

Introducing the Consumer Duty – A Dynamic Journey

19 April 2024
In the fast-paced realm of investment firms, the first half of 2023 witnessed a ...
Asset management: common errors when applying for authorisation

Asset management: common errors when applying for authorisation

17 April 2024
What has happened? In April 2024, the FCA listed and reported on some common ...
Exploring IFPR Insights: Unveiling the FCA's Latest Findings

Exploring IFPR Insights: Unveiling the FCA's Latest Findings

16 April 2024
If you've been following our previous Thistle Initiatives IFPR blog, you're ...