Expanding into the UK
Expanding into the UK: a guide for international financial services firms
The City of London Corporation has partnered with the global law firm Hogan Lovells to develop a straightforward introductory guide on how navigate the UK’s regulatory environment and get authorised by UK’s financial regulators.
This valuable guide helps non-UK firms understand the UK financial services regime and gives practical guidance about how they can do business in the UK.
"The UK has been at the forefront of developing innovative solutions to help regulated firms develop their offerings in the face of changing markets."
The guide includes the following:
Explains why the UK is a pre-eminent centre for financial services and how its openness makes it particularly easy for you for set up a financial services business in the UK.
Enables you to understand the UK regulatory perimeter and the importance of staying on the right side of the line.
Sets out details of the main UK financial regulators – the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) - and enables you to understand which one regulates what type of business, what their objectives are and how they deal with the firms they regulate.
Sets out the tests which will determine whether or not you need authorisation from a UK regulator in order to do your business in the UK.This includes details of which investments and activities are within the UK regulatory perimeter and which are not.It also includes details of the main exemptions that may enable you to avoid the need for authorisation altogether – such as the overseas persons exclusion.
Sets out the UK’s restrictions on making financial promotions into the UK. This will help you understand what promotional activity you can engage in if you do not have authorisation.
Sets out the process that you would follow if you applied to the PRA or the FCA for authorisation, together with a worked example showing the steps and timelines for a typical application.
Sets out the threshold conditions that you would have to satisfy in order to obtain authorisation from the PRA or FCA. This includes (i) details of what type of legal entity you might need to set up in the UK and (ii) the circumstances in which the PRA or FCA may allow you to establish a branch office in the UK without having to set up a subsidiary.
Gives a summary of the main consequences of being authorised in the UK – including:
- what kinds of rules and principles you will be subject to;
- an overview of the main regulatory requirements (e.g. regarding capital, governance and conduct of business);
- when members of your senior management would need to be approved by the regulator; and
- the regulators’ approach to supervision and enforcement.
Explains the availability of “sandboxes” in the UK – that is, environments created by the regulators to help firms innovate and/or test new products and technologies.
Provides details of other practical considerations if you are setting up a business in the UK – such as tax, employment law, insurance and setting up bank accounts. This includes details of grants, incentives and other forms of support that may be available to you.We have included links to other sources of information that may be of help.
The Guide also includes case studies and deeper dives into the issues arising in the particular sectors of (i) asset management and fund management; (ii) banking; (iii) FinTech and (iv) insurance, and covers the regulation of payment institutions and e-money issuers.
Sign up for a free copy of the guide"The UK regulators’ competitiveness objective has been an important driver of attempts by the regulators to try and make the UK’s regime more open and competitive."