FCA to issue Credit Broking Permission Survey
What has happened?
The FCA will shortly be sending a survey to all firms holding the credit broking permission; it is intended to give an updated view of whether and how firms are using this permission and will help the FCA in its work to mitigate risks of harm to consumers. Questions asked will be relevant to the firm’s business model and will include, for example, the type of credit broking activity carried out, how the firm is remunerated and how many creditors the firm has a relationship with.
What do you need to do?
The FCA has designed the survey so that it is quick and simple to complete and it does not expect firms to carry out any additional work to prepare their answers. It should be possible to complete within no more than thirty minutes, but the completion time may be less for some firms. Firms will have fifteen working days to submit their responses.
Whilst the FCA is not seeking this information under its formal information-gathering powers, it does expect firms to complete it. If they do not do so, the FCA may contact them to understand the reasons for this. This may include considering whether they are still using the permission as per previous communications to firms on regulatory permissions.
The survey will be sent initially to 300 firms as a pilot exercise on 20 May 2021 and to the remaining firms holding the credit broking permission in batches over two weeks from 5 July 2021.
A warm-up/introduction email will be sent to firms in the week before they receive the survey. Firms will then be emailed a link to complete the survey online. The link sent to firms will be unique to each firm but if firms need a different individual within their organisation (or a consultant) to answer and submit the survey, the link can be forwarded to the required person.
Firms should check that the email is from either FCA@fcanewsletters.org.uk or FCACreditBrokingSurvey@fca.org.uk.
If firms have any questions when completing the survey, they will be able to refer to the FAQs on the FCA website in the first instance, or alternatively contact the Supervision Hub on 0300 500 0597 from the UK or +44 207 066 100 from abroad, or via email at firm.queries@fca.org.uk.
How can we help you?
If you’d like to know more about how we can help you with your credit broking permissions, or any other regulatory compliance issues, our expert team is here to help. Contact us today on 0207 436 0630 – or email info@thistleinitiatives.co.uk.