The FCA’s 104-page regulatory fees and levies consultation paper, released 31 October, has exposed an anomaly in the fees firms pay dependent on which fee block they belong to.
Advisers who do not hold client money fall into the A13 category, while those who do belong to a separate category, namely A12. However, the paper revealed that while the FCA deems firms that hold client money as deserving greater scrutiny, under the current system, they actually pay a lower fee.
A12 firms currently pay £2.39 per £1000 of income, while A13 firms pay a fee of £6.89 for every £1000 of income.
Proposing a merger of the fee blocks, the paper said the current system was “counter intuitive” with some firms taking on the additional permission of holding money to ensure a lower fee. The consultation’s deadline for submissions is 6 January next year.
The same report also outlined proposed fees for firms offering consumer credit services, ranging from £1000 for credit broking to £15,000 for more complex services.
The FCA officially takes over consumer credit regulation from the Office of Fair Trading next April, and has caused dismay among advisers who have been forced to take out two consumer credit licenses.
