Emma RadmoreThe FCA is consulting on removing 3 streams of data that it currently collects from firms by way of regulatory returns. As promised, it says this will reduce the reporting burden for 16,000 firms. It proposes to remove:
- Form G: the Retail Adviser Complaints Notification Form, which requires firms to email the FCA within 20 days of either upholding 3 complaints against a single adviser in a 12 month period or agreeing compensation of over £50,000 for a single complaint;
- FSA039: Client Money and Assets, a form which asks 4,500 firms twice a year whether they have held any client money or assets or undertaken stock lending activities using clients’ custody assets; and
- Section F of the RMAR, which asks firms twice a year to confirm any changes in close links or controllers and that if there have been changes, the firm has notified the FCA of them.
It also proposes to remove reporting instructions from SUP 16 where these relate to returns already removed.
The FCA will already receive the relevant parts of this information in other ways, so considers these requirements to be excessive.
The proposals will result in 140 pages being removed from the Handbook and its annexes and the FCA hopes to consult on removing more returns later this year.
Consultation closes on 14 May, and, while it is ongoing, the FCA says that firms may choose not to submit the relevant returns and it won’t chase them for late payment fees. It plans to finalise the rules later this year.