FCA confirms extension of the Temporary Permission Regime deadline

TPR would allow EEA-based companies passporting into the UK to continue new and existing regulated business within the scope of their current permissions in the UK for a limited period, while they seek full FCA authorisation.

It will also allow EEA-domiciled investment funds that market in the UK under a passport to continue temporarily marketing in the UK. The deadline for applying to the Trade Repository and Credit Ratings Agencies has also been extended to the same date. For EEA payment services and e-money companies, the notification window for temporary permission is closed, but it will open again under the relevant HM Treasury Regulations on 31 July and end on 30 October 2019.

Parliament has also legislated to give the UK financial regulators powers to make transitional directions connected to changes in financial services legislation made under the EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018. The FCA have stated that it intends to make use of the temporary transitional power to ensure that companies and other regulated persons can generally continue to comply with their regulatory obligations as they did before exit. This will enable companies to adjust to post-exit requirements in an orderly way.

The FCA has also published information on those areas where they are not providing transitional relief (for example, companies subject to the MIFID II transaction reporting regime, and connected persons). In these areas, they expect companies and other regulated entities to take reasonable steps to comply with the changes to their regulatory obligations by exit day. The FCA has explained previously that, in the event that the UK leaves the EU without an implementation period, it will not take a strict liability approach and do not intend to take enforcement action against companies and other regulated entities for not meeting all requirements straight away, where there is evidence they have taken reasonable steps to prepare to meet the new obligations by exit day. However, companies should use the additional time between now and the end of October to prepare to meet these obligations. If companies are not ready to meet these obligations in full, the FCA will expect to see evidence why this was not possible.