Information on authorisations for active and passive managers - February 2022

Please can you provide a breakdown of the number of authorisations for active managers versus passive managers?

Could you also provide the number of rejected applicants every year since 2010?

We can confirm with regard to question 1, we do not hold the requested information. This is because we do not identify investment managers as either passive or active, nor do we restrict them to this type of business.

By way of context, this is not a label which would apply to the manager themselves, but rather to the manager’s products. A manager’s individual funds would be either passive products (trackers, etc), or actively managed products. A manager may also offer a blend of products with some passive and some active.

With regards to question 2, we do hold some historical records on refusals and rejections. The data we hold is provided below; however, please note we have not maintained the data prior to 2016. In addition, the data was not recorded in earlier systems therefore firms cannot be identified according to portfolio.

We also are unable to separate rejections and refusals, as they were not recorded separately prior to mid-2019. However, we can provide you with a total number of refusals/withdrawals.

Please note, refusals are not common, and usually firms choose to withdraw their applications following a ‘minded-to-refuse’ notice.