Cancelling an authorisation or registration

Before you apply

Before applying to cancel your authorisation or registration, your firm is expected to have:

• stopped carrying on regulated activities (including any payment services or e-money activities if you're a payments or e-money institution), or
• planned to stop carrying on regulated activities within 6 months of the application

If you don't plan to stop carrying on regulated activities within 6 months of applying, we may not accept your application.

You should have also:

• told your clients/customers (and, if you have any, approved persons) that you're going to cancel your permission
• paid all your outstanding regulatory fees
• filed any regulatory returns that are due
• resolved any complaints against you
• made suitable arrangements to deal with any complaints and liabilities that might arise

Complying with our Consumer Duty

You must meet the standards of our Consumer Duty (the Duty) for products and services that:

• remain on sale to new customers, or
• are available for renewal by existing customers

The Duty applies from 31 July 2024 to closed book products and services.

You'll need to be able to demonstrate that your customers will not be negatively impacted if your firm’s permissions are cancelled. For example, we may ask you to:

• explain your wind-down plans
• seek further professional opinion if you're transferring your business
• show what steps you've taken to ensure that your customers can access appropriate redress, eg appropriate run-off cover and retention of capital to cover uninsured losses

Refer to SUP 6.4 in our Handbook for more information.

Fees

We don't charge anything for cancelling your authorisation or registration. However, you'll have to pay the full annual fee for the financial year in which you apply for cancellation.

If you submit your cancellation application to us before 31 March (or before the last day in February, if you're also regulated by the PRA), you won't have to pay the annual fee for the following financial year. If, however, your business continues to operate for 3 months beyond this deadline – that’s to say, past 30 June – then you'll have to pay the annual fee for the financial year.

We have more information about:

• what we consider when assessing an application for cancellation of authorisation
• payment of outstanding fees

Submitting your application

You must apply to cancel your authorisation or registration using our Connect system.

If your firm is authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA), you can also refer to our guide for completing your application to cancel.

After submitting your application

If you submit a complete application, one of our case officers will make a decision within 6 months. If your application is incomplete, our decision may take up to 12 months.

Small registered AIFMs

If you cease to satisfy the conditions of your registration, you must notify us.