The Financial Conduct Authority has removed advice firm Wellington Court Financial Services' temporary permissions after it failed to apply for full authorisation.
In a final notice, published last week (October 6), Wellington Court Financial Services had its temporary permissions revoked by the regulator, meaning the firm can no longer conduct regulated activity in the UK.
On May 28 2021, the authority said that if Wellington Court Financial Services Limited intended to submit for an application for full permission it must submit the application during the period October 1 2021 to December 31 2021.
If they missed their landing slot or failed to apply by December 31 2022, the FCA expected them to voluntarily cancel their temporary permissions.
If this did not happen, the FCA would act to cancel a firm’s permissions as the Temporary Permissions Regime should only be used by firms wanting to operate in the UK in the long-term and meet the required standards.
This is not the first time that the FCA have taken action on this basis.
Wellington Court Financial Services Limited failed to apply during the time period.
Therefore, the FCA announced it had removed the permissions of Wellington Court Financial Services Limited for failing to apply for authorisation in a timely manner.
The FCA explained that, as a result of the cancellation, if Wellington Court Financial Services Limited is carrying on any regulated activities in the UK it will enter the supervised run-off regime .
Once in the supervised run-off regime, Wellington Court Financial Services Limited should make arrangements to conduct an orderly exit from the UK market.
The FCA stated that it had previously set out its expectations of firms in the Temporary Permissions Regime.
The firm closed its UK establishment in December 2021.
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme has been working with the FCA and Financial Ombudsman Service to investigate its activities.
In May this year, Wellington Court Financial Services Ltd, was declared in default and at the time had 329 claims open which were largely pension and self-invested personal pension advice related.
Wellington Court was incorporated in Ireland, passported into the UK and had an establishment in Devon which closed on December 31, 2021.
From December 19, 2016, Wellington Court had permission from the Financial Conduct Authority to carry out certain regulated activities including advising on investments and pension transfers.
Prior to this date, it only had permission to carry out insurance mediation and insurance distribution activities.
tom.dunstan@ft.com
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