From 1 June 2021, the FCA will no longer be accepting Change of Legal Status applications. Instead, firms intending to change their legal status will need to submit a New Authorisation application through Connect and will also need to cancel the previous entity’s permissions.
Depending on the legal structure of the previous entity and the new entity, firms will need to submit either a New Authorisation application or a SUP 15 notification (notification under Principle 11).
When submitting an application for the new legal entity, firms will need to sign a Deed Poll declaration, which requires the firm to deal with any complaints from existing customers in the same way as customers of the new legal entity.
If firms have any ongoing contractual agreements with customers, they must contact them and agree either to amend their existing contracts or to agree on new contracts taking into account the change of legal entity. Otherwise, they should let customers know about the change in legal entity when they next deal with them.
If you’d like to know more about how we can help you with your firm’s legal status or new authorisation arrangements, 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.