On 15 July 2025, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a press release stating that it plans to speed up the processes for firms and individuals seeking authorisation.

The FCA states that some of the reduced timelines will be reflected in proposed statutory deadlines published and consulted on by the Government whilst others are voluntary targets. 

The package of targets includes:

  • Statutory: New firm authorisations and variations of permission applications to be completed in 4 months (currently 6) for complete applications and 10 months (currently 12) for incomplete applications.
  • Voluntary: For variations of permission applications where the new permissions closely align to the existing business model, the target will reduce further to 3 months for complete applications and 6 months for incomplete applications.
  • Voluntary: Payments and e-money firm authorisations and registrations completed in 3 months (same) for complete applications and 10 months (currently 12) for incomplete applications.
  • Voluntary/statutory: For senior manager regime applications, at least half will be completed within 35 days with a proposed statutory deadline of 2 months (currently 3) for all applications.

The FCA will measure performance against the proposed new statutory deadlines and voluntary targets from January 2026.