I mentioned a while back that you will need to be looking out for the pending changes in regulation of Consumer Credit. Control of this passes to the FCA on 1st April 2014 and this will require you to take some action.
The OFT and the FCA have recently issued a joint letter, (15th July) presumably to all licence holders, to give them warning of the changes.
It would seem that the term 'late summer' has firmed up slightly to 'September' as the time at which you will need to register with the FCA. Presumably more details will follow from them soon along with the expected cost of doing so. In the meantime the joint letter advises you to check the OFT register to make sure that your details (name address, trading styles etc) are correctly recorded with the OFT at the present time and that you are correctly registered for the categories of activity that you need.
What are the correct activities? That would depend on what you actually do as a business . If you are unsure please feel free to contact me via the blog or directly to david.c.payne1@btinternet.com.
It is suggested that it will be easier to sort any updates before you have to apply to the FCA and I think that this is a reasonable assumption. If you don't have correct registration, you could be trading illegally, of course.
Friday, 26 July 2013
Thursday, 18 July 2013
Heads Up if you went to the risk awareness workshops
If you went to the Risk Awareness Workshops held a few months ago, I think that you can assume that you are in the frame for the online survey.
It all depends upon FCA resourcing I guess, although this appears to be all online, including the feedback which has the look and feel of a wholly automated response ( from the one example that I have seen so far). Don't misinterpret me on this though. Online or not this is serious contact with your regulator and if you don't deal with it properly, you will have a problem.
Currently I am aware of 4 of my own clients based in SE and London area who have been asked to carry out the Risk Awareness Online Survey. I am not aware of any clients involved in Scotland; the NE ; NW; SW ; Central or Eastern part of the country as of yet but that does not mean that this is not a phased roll out. In the SE and London clients have received emails on at least two different dates over the past 10 days.
Given the contents of the FCA page about the follow up to the Workshops set out at http://www.fca.org.uk/firms/being-regulated/meeting-your-obligations/risk-awareness/regulatory-review
I think you should assume that if you went to the workshop you are likely to be involved in the survey.
Look out for those emails...
It all depends upon FCA resourcing I guess, although this appears to be all online, including the feedback which has the look and feel of a wholly automated response ( from the one example that I have seen so far). Don't misinterpret me on this though. Online or not this is serious contact with your regulator and if you don't deal with it properly, you will have a problem.
Currently I am aware of 4 of my own clients based in SE and London area who have been asked to carry out the Risk Awareness Online Survey. I am not aware of any clients involved in Scotland; the NE ; NW; SW ; Central or Eastern part of the country as of yet but that does not mean that this is not a phased roll out. In the SE and London clients have received emails on at least two different dates over the past 10 days.
Given the contents of the FCA page about the follow up to the Workshops set out at http://www.fca.org.uk/firms/being-regulated/meeting-your-obligations/risk-awareness/regulatory-review
I think you should assume that if you went to the workshop you are likely to be involved in the survey.
Look out for those emails...
Wednesday, 17 July 2013
FCA Online survey update
Just a quick note on the current online Survey on Risk Awareness. For a small firm you should allow about 3 hours uninterrupted to complete this in a considered and careful manner. You could possibly do it in the suggested of 2 hours but you need to make sure that you read the questions properly and that you understand the implications of the answers that you give. There may also be a need to understand some of the terminology.
Once you have answered the question and moved on YOU CANNOT GO BACK AND MAKE ADJUSTMENTS and this is one further reason why you need to allocate uninterrupted time.
There will be a follow up email within 48 hours of submitting the survey and you will have 5 days to respond to that . It is important to realise that the survey is not completed and your job is not done until you have responded to that final email.
In terms of the content, the thing does not just cover Risk Awareness as one might think about it. There is an initial section on risk and then there are sections on management ( ends at about 55% of the survey completed followed by controls and then prudential matters. it is a serious full analysis of your firm and is one you MUST take ABSOLUTELY seriously.
If you have seen the first email and treated it as a circular, get it back and respond to it. Check your spam in case you have received it and don't yet know about it. Failure to respond should not be considered an option and failure to receive it to your inbox is not an excuse.
If you need to contact me about the matter then please contact me on david.c.payne1@btinternet.com or by commenting on the blog. Don't forget however that I cannot complete the survey for you.
Once you have answered the question and moved on YOU CANNOT GO BACK AND MAKE ADJUSTMENTS and this is one further reason why you need to allocate uninterrupted time.
There will be a follow up email within 48 hours of submitting the survey and you will have 5 days to respond to that . It is important to realise that the survey is not completed and your job is not done until you have responded to that final email.
In terms of the content, the thing does not just cover Risk Awareness as one might think about it. There is an initial section on risk and then there are sections on management ( ends at about 55% of the survey completed followed by controls and then prudential matters. it is a serious full analysis of your firm and is one you MUST take ABSOLUTELY seriously.
If you have seen the first email and treated it as a circular, get it back and respond to it. Check your spam in case you have received it and don't yet know about it. Failure to respond should not be considered an option and failure to receive it to your inbox is not an excuse.
If you need to contact me about the matter then please contact me on david.c.payne1@btinternet.com or by commenting on the blog. Don't forget however that I cannot complete the survey for you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)