Wholesale markets firm applicants

MiFID / MiFID-exempt applications

For new firm authorisations, refer to the

• MiFID annex notes
• MIFIDPRU supplement notes

Or if you're applying to vary a permission, see our MiFID variation of permission notes.

Investment firm Register (IFR)

The Investment firms register on the other registers section of the Financial Services Register is a public register of investment firms authorised by the FCA that provide or perform MiFID investment services or activities and are potentially subject to trade reporting obligations under Articles 20 and 21 of the UK Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (UK MiFIR). It does not include firms that do not have trade reporting obligations under UK MIFIR, such as, firms who are exempt from authorisation under MiFID  or firms that would have been authorised under other directives including UCITS or AIFMD for whom the UK MIFIR trade reporting obligations do not apply. Firms  authorised as credit institutions under CRD and therefore potentially subject to trade  reporting under UK MIFIR are also not included on the register.

Prepare your application

You must submit your application through Connect.

Make sure you include:

• your regulatory business plan (see below)
• a financial forecast for 3 years with monthly profit and loss statement, balance sheet, cash flow and capital analysis – follow best practice for wholesale firms by using our Financial Analysis Template in our guide on how to prepare your firm's financial information
• all the required forms and supporting material listed on the relevant page for your type of firm
• a UK-designated principal place of business, with explanation of how and where your activity will be carried on in the UK
• a bank account for your firm
• information on client money accounts, if you propose to hold client money or assets
• any additional documentation we may ask for as part of our assessment of your application

Prior to authorisation, we require evidence that you have injected equity into the applicant firm in line with the relevant capital requirements, for example funds in a bank account in the firms name, an SH01 filed at companies house and/or relevant capital clauses contained in the Limited Liability Partnership agreement.

Criteria for extra support

Check if your firm meets the criteria for our pre-application support service (PASS) which offers pre-application meetings and FCA speakers at industry events.

This is aimed at:

• overseas firms seeking to do business in the UK
• firms planning to set up business in the devolved nations or outside the South East
• firms with innovative business models or involved in high-risk activities
• wholesale service providers
• Appointed representatives applying to become directly authorised
• Managers of UK UCITS

Find out more about PASS

Final check and submit

Before you submit everything on Connect, give it one more check to be sure you've included everything.

Our how to apply page has 3 top tips to ensure your application goes smoothly, and explains what happens after you've submitted it.

If you need more help

Please contact us on 0300 500 0597. We're open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 9am to 5pm, and Thursday 9.45am to 5pm.