The Financial Conduct Authority are looking to refuse my application for authorisation, what should I do?

If the FCA decide that they are not going to grant authorisation, they will send a ‘minded to’ letter to the company in question and indicate their intentions to refuse.  This is a decision taken by the Authorisations Team and will then be referred to the Regulatory Transactions Committee (RTC), which is made up of senior FCA staff.  If the RTC agrees with the recommendation to refuse authorisation, it will send the company a ‘warning notice’ and also provide a copy of the material considered by the RTC, which it referred to when reaching its decision. 

If you wish to challenge the warning notice, you have the right to submit representations to the Regulatory Decisions Committee (RDC), which is a body that operates separately from the rest of the FCA and essentially is their ‘final decision’ committee. If you fail to challenge the initial warning that they are minded to refuse, the RTC may decide that the it is uncontested and issue a decision notice to that effect, i.e. that the application for authorisation is refused.

In challenging the decision to the RDC, you can make representations in writing and/or orally at a meeting with them.  You set out why you believe the FCA should not refuse your application. The Authorisations Team will also make their case out as to why authorisation should be refused. The RDC will consider the submissions from both sides and then decide whether the decision to refuse should stand. If the RDC decides to refuse, it will then issue a decision notice to the applicant and explain why it has reached that conclusion.  Conversely, they may decide that the Authorisations Team has got it wrong and not issue a decision notice, in which case authorisation will then be granted. 

If the RDC does decide against you, then all is not lost.  You still have a right of appeal to the Upper Tribunal, which is normally within 28 days.  They will essentially take a fresh look at the decision and hear from both sides. 

Finally, throughout this process, you will normally be able to continue as if the initial refusal decision had not been made. It is only in the more serious cases that they will look to suspend permission, which again you can appeal against.

The Regulatory Team at Short Richardson & Forth are very experienced in handling such matters, so you should consider contacting us first to help you through such an issue.