CP21/33: Regulatory fees and levies proposals for 2022/23

Read CP21/33[1]

Why we are consulting

We are funded entirely by the fees and levies from the firms we regulate. We do not receive any funding from other sources.

Who this applies to

This document applies to:

• all FCA fee-payers
• any businesses considering applying for FCA authorisation or registration

Each chapter deals with a specific policy area and identifies the bodies it will affect.

This CP is not directly relevant to retail financial services consumers, although our fees are indirectly paid by users of financial services.

Background to the consultation

Our annual fees consultation follows this cycle:

• October to November – we consult on any changes to our policy on how we raise fees and levies. We give our feedback on the consultation responses in the following February/March Handbook Notice or the March/April CP.
• January – we consult on the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) management expenses levy limit (MELL), a joint consultation with the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). We give our feedback on the consultation responses in the March Handbook Notice.
• March to April – we consult on FCA periodic fees rates for the next financial year (1 April to 31 March) and any proposed changes to application fees or other fees. We also consult on the Financial Ombudsman Service general levy, the Single Financial Guidance Body levies and illegal money-lending levies for the next financial year.
• June to July – we publish feedback on responses received to the March CP with final fees and levy rates in a policy statement.

Find out about the fees we charge and what they cover[2].

Main proposals

• We present a model for calculating minimum fees in the A fee-blocks and propose to integrate consumer credit firms with the minimum fees and prudential charges of A-block firms. These proposals would increase our charges and when we consult on the fee-rates for 2022/23 next April, we will consider whether to implement them in full.
• We review the fees implications of the Investment Firms Prudential Regime (IFPR).
• We present arrangements for pre-paid funeral plan firms to report their fees data and propose to include them in the annual charge for approved persons.
• We propose an uplift of £25,000 to the application fees of recognised overseas investment exchanges which intend to use new and untried IT.
• We discuss our approach to recovering the costs of projects which bring new types of firm into our regulatory scope following changes in legislation.

Respond to this consultation

This consultation has now closed.

Next steps

We will consider your comments and publish our feedback, and our rules, in our Handbook Notice in March 2022.