UNITED KINGDOM: FCA Statement on Temporary Permissions Regime

Thursday August 20 2020

On 20^th August 2020, the Financial Conduct of Authority (FCA) announced that the Temporary Permissions Regime (TPR) will take effect at the end of the transition period.

The window for firms and fund managers to notify the FCA that they want to use the TPR is currently closed. Firms and fund managers that have already submitted a notification need take no further action at this stage.

The FCA will re-open the notification window on 30 September 2020. This will allow firms and fund managers that have not yet made notifications to do so before the end of the transition period. There will also be an opportunity for fund managers to update their previously submitted notifications, if necessary.

The FCA will communicate further on this in September.

Firms and investment funds that can use the TPR

The FCA has explained which types of firms and investment funds can use the temporary permissions regime (TPR)

Firms that can use the regime:

• Firms that have passports under Schedule 3 to FSMA in place before the end of the transition period, including where they also have top-up permissions
• Treaty firms under Schedule 4 to FSMA which qualify for authorisation before the end of the transition period, including where they also have top-up permissions
• Electronic money institutions, payment institutions and registered account information service providers who are exercising their passporting rights under the Electronic Money Directive (EMD) or the Payment Services Directive (PSD2) before the end of the transition period

These firms might currently be operating on a freedom of establishment basis, a freedom to provide services basis or both. But the scope of a particular firm’s temporary permission is determined by the type of passport it had and what was covered by its passport prior to the end of the transition period.

Firms with MiFID tied agents

Firms which enter the TPR will have Part 4A permission. This means that if you have MiFID tied agents shown on the Financial Services Register at the end of the transition period, they will continue to be able to act for you during time in the TPR. If tied agents are not on the Financial Services Register at the end of the transition period, they will not be able to carry on regulated activities.

Bear in mind that if you’re considering using the financial services contracts regime (FSCR) to run off UK-regulated business, the regime for cross-border services firms (contractual run-off) does not support the use of tied agents in the UK.

Investment funds that can use the regime

The following investment funds will be able to use the temporary marketing permissions regime (TMPR) if FCA has received notification of their intention to continue to market in the UK under the relevant passport prior to the end of the transition period:

• EEA-domiciled UCITS and any notified sub-funds
• UK and EEA-domiciled Alternative Investment Funds (including EuVECAs, EuSEFs, ELTIFs and AIFs authorised as MMFs) managed by EEA authorised managers

Click on the link for further information.