How to Cancel or Withdraw an FCA licence.

If you wish to notify the FCA that you are shutting up shop, or at least ceasing your regulatory activity, there is a process to follow. What you CANNOT do is simply stop paying the FCA fees and hope that they get the hint!

There is another option….and it’s better!

Before we detail the costs, timeframe and mechanism of cancelling your licence, there is a question you should ask. Why do you wish to withdraw your licence? It is likely that your current operations are not that profitable or you’d likely be planning to continue. Perhaps you lost a key banking partner or cannot afford to operate in the increasingly costly regulatory environment. Whatever the reason, whether you have 0 clients or 10000 clients, 1 staff member or 100, we can advise you free of charge and with no obligation.

We have a steady stream of interested parties looking to get involved in the UK Fintech scene in Emoney, Payments and Consumer Credit and some have large funds to pump in.

We can find you an investor or outright buyer with a business model that matches yours and they can inject some cash, work on some marketing, maybe bring their own technology. You can choose to stay on as director or let them replace the management team.

Sounds better than binning all your hard work and walking away doesn’t it? Call or email us for an immediate consultation during working hours.

If you are resolutely determined to walk away, the process is detailed below:

First steps before you contact the FCA

Before applying to cancel your authorisation, your firm is expected to have:

stopped carrying on regulated activities, or
planned to stop carrying on regulated activities within the next 6 months.

You should have also:

told your clients and all approved persons that you are going to cancel your permission
paid any outstanding regulatory fees
filed any regulatory returns that are due
resolved any existing complaints.
made suitable arrangements to deal with any complaints and liabilities that may arise in future.

The FCA may not grant your application to cancel unless the above conditions have been met.

How Much Will it Cost to withdraw my licence?

There is no fee for cancelling your authorisation. However, you do have to pay the full annual fee for the financial year in which you apply for cancellation.

You can apply to cancel your authorisation using the FCA’s online system Connect which you should already be registered on.

But remember, it’s worth having a 5 minute chat with us first to see if have immediate investment available for you.