The FSA has said that members in good standing of GISC and the Institute of Insurance Broker Registration Council (IBRC) are to receive credit in the FSA authorisation process.
According to a report, director of the FSA high street firms division, Sarah Wilson, sent a letter to eligible companies. It said that applications from members in good standing would receive a level of scrutiny which reflected the standards set by the GISC and IRBC.
"This does not of course amount to grandfathering," said Wilson. "Rather it reflects the fact that we anticipate receiving a higher quality of application from [name] members - reflecting the standards set by their current regulator - and we could therefore expect to devote fewer resources on average to [name] applicant firms.
"Furthermore, where as part of the application process it is necessary for us to conduct closer inquiries into a firm's application, we expect that our final judgement on whether the firm meets the threshold conditions will be influenced by the degree and intensity of regulation that has previously been applied to it. We may also have regard to the length of time that a firm has been subject to voluntary regulation.
"Finally, a member in good standing of [name] that resigns their membership between the date of application and start of statutory regulation will be subject to further scrutiny before a final decision on whether or not to authorise is given," concluded the report.
