FCA says handful of cases prompt drop in on-time authorisations

A drop in the UK Financial Conduct Authorityʼs (FCA) authorisations performance for the first quarter of 2025 was caused by just a few cases, according to data from the regulator.

The Q1 data, published last week, showed authorisations in the fifth money laundering directive (5MLD) category slipped from green to red, according to the FCA’s colour-coded performance system, with 88.9% completed in time, down from 100% in the previous quarter.

On-time authorisations also slipped in the payments and e-money and variation of permissions categories, to 92.9% and 97.5% respectively from 100% and 99.7% in the previous quarter. The other authorisations category that was in either red or amber territory was new firm authorisations, which dipped by 0.3% to 96%.

“Over 99% of applications across all metric areas were determined within the statutory deadline in the most recent quarter,” said a FCA spokesperson, adding: “Complete and comprehensive applications are likely to be determined in good time. The complexity of some cases requires us to take time to make sure there is greater scrutiny and engagement with the firms involved, and this means that we will not always meet our statutory targets.”

There were nine 5MLD authorisations in Q1 . A single application was therefore responsible for the drop to red, the FCA said. The payments and e-money category had a total of 14 applications in the quarter, with a single application again being responsible for the drop in performance.

Seven cases out of a total 280 applications to vary permissions were not completed within the statutory deadline of six months (or 12 if the application was initially incomplete), the regulator said.

Overall, 13 out of 17 categories were green in the first quarter.

History

The FCA has been producing quarterly metrics on the timeliness of its authorisations since the beginning of the 2022/23 financial year. The reporting sequence was introduced as an accountability measure following criticism by financial services firms over delays by the regulator in approving new, individuals, firms and business lines.

Last month, the FCA said it would begin offering pre-authorisation in-person meetings to firms in the crypto, payments and wholesale markets sectors as part of its efforts to support the UK government’s growth mission.