Appointed Representatives
If your business is looking to engage in FCA-regulated activity, there are two options to obtain the regulatory permissions you will need:
Become directly authorised by the FCA
or
Become an Appointed Representative of a Principal Firm, sometimes referred to as a ‘Regulatory Hosting’ arrangement
We work with Appointed Representatives whose product offering, target market and approach to culture and governance fit with our risk appetite and experience.
Using the Appointed Representative route has the following advantages:
Speed to market, as the process of being approved as an Appointed Representative is, on the whole, significantly quicker than applying to be directly authorised. It is also possible to be an Appointed Representative while you’re preparing your application for direct authorisation or waiting for approval.
We hold regulatory capital on your behalf, so your business doesn’t need to set this aside.
We have approved policies and procedures which we will ask you to follow, and we will monitor your business in line with these, so that you can be confident it’s compliant with regulations.
There is no requirement for Appointed Representatives to pay the FCA’s levy, making the Appointed Representative route cost-effective.
Our team deals with the FCA on your behalf, so you don’t have the strain of preparing returns or responding to queries from the FCA.
What happens if you want to become an AR?
After an initial conversation we follow a defined process with all of our clients to ensure an efficient and seamless on-boarding process.
We will arrange a fact-finding meeting with you to establish who you are, what you want to achieve, your relevant experience and to ensure that we apply the correct regulatory permissions. This also allows you to establish whether you feel you would like to work with our team. Following this meeting we will be able to give you an indicative fee structure.
Once you are comfortable to proceed with Infinity we will commence on-boarding you. The FCA requires that we conduct in depth due diligence on our ARs. This typically applies to the company itself and the people within it, from the owners through to the employees. This includes credit checks, criminal record checks, references, CV checks and qualification checks. We will also review your business plan with you and your financials and any marketing materials to ensure that we apply the correct compliance framework. This typically takes only a few days for us to complete.
Following successful completion of the onboarding process, we will educate you regarding the compliance procedures that you need to adhere to and we will provide you with the relevant records that you will need to maintain. We provide an on-going monitoring and support program and we stay in regular contact with you working with you as part of our team.
