The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has extended the deadline for notifications of the temporary permissions regime (TPR) until 30 October 2019.
TPR enables European Economic Area (EEA)-based firms passporting into the UK to continue new and existing regulated business, within their current permissions, in the UK for a limited period, while they seek a full FCA authorisation.
Additionally, it lets EEA-situated investment funds which market to the UK through a passport to continue temporarily.
Deadlines for applications to the Trade Repository and Credit Ratings Agencies have also been extended to the same date.
The notification window for temporary permissions for EEA payment services and e-money firms is currently closed but will reopen on 31 July and close on 30 October.
Financial Conduct Authority executive director of international Nausicaa Delfas said, “The FCA continues to plan for all Brexit scenarios, which includes a no-deal Brexit. Extending the deadline for firms to notify the FCA they want to enter the TPR is part of this ongoing work. It is important that firms also continue to plan for all scenarios, including the possibility of a no-deal Brexit at the end of October 2019.
“As more information emerges about what Brexit will mean for financial services, firms need to make sure they understand the implications and plan accordingly. If firms are unsure of our expectations or what they need to do, they should visit our Brexit pages on the FCA website.”
The UK parliament has given financial regulators in the country powers to make transitional directions connected to financial services legislation changes related through Brexit. With this, the FCA aims to ensure firms and regulated persons can continue to comply within regulator obligations as they had before the exit.
There are a number of areas where the FCA is not offering transitional relief, such as MiFID II transaction reporting, and for these it has published information as an aid. For these areas, the FCA expects relevant firms to take responsible steps to comply with changes to regulatory obligations by the exit day.
The FCA previously stated that in the event of the UK leaving without an implementation period, it would not take a strict liability approach or intend to take enforcement action against regulated entities for not meeting requirements instantly.
That said, this additional time to meet obligations by October and if firms are not ready, they must supply sufficient evidence on why.
The FCA has been taking various measures to support the day the UK leaves the EU. It has signed MoUs with regulators in Australia, the US, Europe to support continued cooperation.
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