The Financial Conduct Authority is running a "major programme" to improve its approach to authorising individuals and companies to work in the sector.
This morning (11 December) the regulator published a consultation on its approach to authorisation in a bid to be more open and transparent about how it regulates the financial services sector.
As part of this programme of improvements, the FCA has said it wants to improve the support it gives firms to help them meet its minimum standards and become more digital and innovative.
It is also attempting to improve its service focus to make it easier for firms and individuals to engage with the FCA.
These changes mean the FCA will improve the clarity of its website, make the handbook easier to navigate and use technology to improve the public register.
It will also extend the role of its customer contact centre to make sure it can give more detailed and extensive support to applicants as they become authorised.
One of the problems the FCA has unearthed in the authorisation process is that it receives too many incomplete applications and addressing this eats into the statutory time limit it has to handle them.
To address this the FCA has said it will make it "more intuitive and easier" for firms to prepare and submit complete applications.
The FCA has also committed to supporting newly-established or innovative firms, for example it may authorise a firm subject to certain restrictions.
Andrew Bailey, chief executive of the FCA, said: "As part of our Mission, we committed to being more open and transparent about how we regulate and how we make decisions.
"Authorisation is the gateway for firms that want to operate in the financial services industry. We use it to prevent harm from occurring by ensuring that all firms meet our minimum standards before they are allowed to start doing business.
"It’s vital that we get it right to keep out firms that are not up to scratch and allow the right ones through."
As part of its consultation into the authorisation process the FCA has also asked whether there is a clear understanding of the threshold conditions that firms and individuals must meet for authorisation and, if not, where it could be more specific.
Over the course of 2016 the maximum processing time for a retail authorisation application had increased to 74 weeks and then to 90 weeks – nearly two years.
At the time the FCA had said it was aware of the backlog and had brought in more staff to help deal with it.
The latest figures show this has now fallen to 65 weeks.
damian.fantato@ft.com
