CP18/34: Regulatory fees and levies: policy proposals for 2019/20

Read CP18/34 (PDF)[1]

We are consulting on the following proposals:

• We set out the fees structure we intend to establish for credit rating agencies and trade repositories if responsibility for their regulation passes to us from ESMA (European Securities and Markets Authority) when the UK leaves the EU (European Union) on 29 March 2019.
• We propose to discontinue fee-block F. This contains mutual societies that are registered by us on the mutuals register but not authorised or regulated by us. Most are run by volunteers who require us to issue paper invoices. This process is expensive and restricts our capacity to improve cost efficiency through greater take-up of online invoicing. We maintain the register as a public service so we intend to recover the cost as an FCA overhead. This would represent an addition of approximately 0.3% to the fees of variable fee-payers. We also propose to remove charges for inspecting the register, except where a member of the public requests a personal visit to FCA offices.
• We define the data used to calculate periodic fees for insurers and propose adjustments to the weightings we apply to the premium and liabilities elements of the data.
• We clarify how we apply on-account payment rules to the illegal moneylending levy and the Single Financial Guidance Body (SFGB) levies.
• We propose to streamline the process of setting consumer credit fees by exempting community finance organisations and credit unions.  They are currently exempt from paying minimum fees. Identifying the few that are eligible for variable fees and calculating their charges is an inefficient use of our resources. The reduction in revenue would be less than 0.3% of the total revenue from consumer credit fees.
• UK firms who currently contribute to debt advice funding across the UK will continue to do so but part of their contribution will be designated for the devolved authorities’ debt advice in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. EU firms in the temporary permissions regime will contribute to the devolved authorities’ debt advice levy on the same basis as UK firms.

Who this applies to

The CP applies to all FCA fee-payers and SFGB levy-payers, and especially to mutual societies, community finance organisations, credit unions, consumer credit firms and insurers. It also applies to any firms which are already, or are considering setting up, credit rating agencies or trade repositories.

Next steps

We have published our feedback to this consultation and rules in Handbook Notice 64[2] and Handbook Notice 63[3].

We responded to question 10 on firms in the temporary permissions regime contributing to the devolved authorities’ debt advice levy in PS19/5[4].

We responded to question 2 our periodic fees for credit rating agencies and trade repositories in PS19/10[5].