FCA is still suffering significant delays in allocating case officers for CiC notifications. It has recruited more staff but there is still around 6 weeks between submission of an application and allocation to a case officer. Thereafter, the case officer will confirm whether the application is complete as soon as possible. However, FCA has reminded applicants that:
- it is a criminal offence to acquire or change control before approval (unless the statutory assessment period has ended); and
- that many applications it gets are incomplete