GISC has highlighted common mistakes made on FSA authorisation forms, as it urged companies to ensure they could meet the 13 July deadline to be sure of authorisation by January 2005.
GISC said common mistakes made by applicants include:
• Inflating the firm's income by thousands of pounds. The FSA has already inserted “000” outside the completion box, so if a firm's income is £500,000, the box should be completed with “500”, otherwise the fee will be calculated on an income of £500 million;
• Sole traders applying to be an Approved Person. This is only necessary if a sole trader employs other staff who are Approved Persons, but sole traders must complete HSF Form 2 as a controller;
• Failing to assign an individual to the Apportionment and Oversight function. With the exception of sole traders, every firm needs someone to carry out this function, preferably the chief executive or an equivalent person;
• Applying for every controlled function. Most controlled functions do not apply to most firms, so check the FSA factsheet “Becoming an Approved Person” and chapter 10 of the supervision manual in the FSA handbook;
• Failure to apply for permission not to hold client money. If a firm intends not to hold client money, it will usually need a “requirement” on its permission to reflect this.
Patrick Brennan, head of authorisation in FSA's High Street Firms Division, said:
“We'd encourage firms to apply by the end of May in order to receive the early application discount. But please don't leave it until the last few days to apply in case it takes you longer than you expect to complete the application process.
“Before filling in your application check out our list of the most common errors in completing the form at fsa.gov.uk/mgi/mistakes.html to make sure you don't make the same mistakes.
“Also, bear in mind that 31 May is a Bank Holiday. That means that to qualify for your discount your paper form would need to reach us by close of business on 28 May.
“If you're applying electronically, the systems will be available over the weekend, but support services won't be available after close of business on the 28th.”
