Free tool

Do I need FCA authorisation?

Nine questions and an indicative answer on whether, and how, your firm needs to be authorised.

Question 1 of 9

What is the firm's connection to the UK?

FCA authorisation is required if regulated activities are carried on in the UK. This determines the framework that applies.

Which instruments are involved?

Select all that apply.

What best describes the firm's main activity?

Select the option that most closely matches what you do or plan to do.

Who does the firm deal with?

This determines which conduct obligations and client categorisation rules apply.

What is the approximate scale of the business?

These bands follow the thresholds in the rules: £100m for AIFMD (£500m only for unleveraged funds with no redemption rights for five years) and £1.2bn AUM or £30m revenue for MIFIDPRU SNI status. Prop trading firms are non-SNI whatever their size — pick the closest band by trading capital.

What is your timeline?

Most firms should plan for nine to twelve months overall; simpler firms and variations of permission can be quicker.

Where is the fund domiciled?

The fund's legal domicile determines which fund regime applies and affects UK marketing and management obligations. If your firm trades on its own account with no external fund structure, select "No fund structure" below.

Where is the fund manager (AIFM or equivalent) based and regulated?

Distinct from the fund domicile — the manager's regulatory home determines which management regime applies and how any UK entity fits in.

Does this firm directly conduct investor marketing or fundraising?

This question concerns what this firm does — not an intragroup affiliate acting independently. If marketing is handled entirely by a separate affiliated entity with no involvement from this firm (no support, no communications, no meetings), that activity is out of scope for this firm's authorisation and NPPR obligations. Select all that apply to this firm's own activities.

Initial assessment

Assessing…

This is not regulatory advice. The output below is a high-level indication only, based on the information provided. It does not constitute legal or regulatory advice and should not be relied upon. FCA authorisation decisions depend on the specific facts of each case. Speak to a qualified compliance professional before proceeding.

Likely authorisation requirement

Likely regulatory category

Key issues to consider

Suggested next steps

Marketing and investor distribution — additional considerations

UK Crypto FSMA regime — key dates and timeline

Indicative figures only. Based on James Lane's direct experience delivering FCA Part 4A authorisations for MiFID investment firms. Every application is different — these are planning benchmarks, not guarantees or legal advice.

Timeline to authorisation

Months 1–3Decision and preparation: entity incorporation (if not already done), regulatory strategy agreed, SMF candidates identified, initial business plan drafted.
Note: Regulatory host (AR) can be operational within 6–8 weeks if needed as an interim. Months 3–6Application build: regulatory business plan, systems and controls documentation, financial projections, SMF Form A preparation. Allow time for internal review cycles and legal sign-off before submission. Months 7–12+FCA review: current FCA turnaround is 4–6 months from receipt of a complete application. The FCA will typically issue queries (RFIs) — allow time for responses. Non-SNI firms (any firm dealing on own account, and managers above the SNI thresholds), full-scope AIFMs and complex applications take longer.

Realistic total timeline: 9–12 months from decision to authorisation for a well-prepared firm. Fastest achieved: ~7 months. 18+ months is common for firms that start without proper preparation.

Effort to authorisation

Based on experience delivering Part 4A applications — planning benchmarks:

150–500 hrsApplication build: business analysis, regulatory strategy, regulatory business plan, financial projections, systems and controls documentation, SMF Form A preparation, internal reviews and FCA case officer management. The range reflects firm profile — a simple firm with a clear business model at the low end; complex structures or unclear regulatory perimeter at the high end. 100–500 hrsAuthorisation-ready solutions: building the compliance infrastructure the FCA expects to be operational at authorisation — monitoring programme, policy suite, surveillance, transaction reporting, SMCR framework, AML/KYC processes. Varies greatly depending on firm type. Runs in parallel with the application. ~500 hrs/yrOngoing maintenance: approximately one day per week once authorised — compliance monitoring, MiFIDPRU obligations, policy reviews, surveillance oversight, regulatory horizon monitoring and board reporting. This is the baseline before any significant projects or regulatory change.

How Reg Advantage approaches this

What Reg Advantage can compress: the regulatory strategy, application architecture, regulatory business plan, systems and controls documentation, SMCR mapping, MiFIDPRU modelling and FCA case officer management. James has delivered these before and knows where time is wasted on applications that go in underprepared.
What requires specialist partners: legal review of the application and SMF documentation (regulatory law firm), transaction reporting infrastructure (ARM), surveillance platform implementation, and in some cases internal development resource. Reg Advantage will manage these workstreams but cannot deliver all of them in isolation.
The SMF dimension: James is available to be named on the FCA register as SMF 16 (Compliance Oversight) and SMF 17 (MLRO). This removes a critical dependency — many applications stall because firms cannot find a credible, FCA-approvable SMF 16 candidate.

Get a proper assessment

James Lane at Reg Advantage has delivered FCA Part 4A authorisations from scratch for trading businesses. Leave your details and he'll be in touch within one business day.

Your name

Firm name

Phone (optional)

Reg Advantage will not share your details with third parties. You can unsubscribe at any time.

✓

Thank you — James will be in touch

He'll review your answers and contact you within one business day to discuss your situation properly.

Indicative only — not legal or regulatory advice. The right answer depends on your firm’s facts. Talk it through with James.

Start with a 30-minute call.

Tell James where the firm is and what it needs next. No pitch deck, no obligation.

Book a call james.lane@regadv.com +44 20 3567 1037