On 24 May 2019, the FCA confirmed the deadline for notifications for the temporary permissions regime (TPR) will be extended to the end of October 2019. The TPR allows EEA-based firms passporting into the UK to continue new and existing regulated business within the scope of their current permissions in the UK for this limited period, while they seek full FCA authorisation. The deadline for the temporary registration regime for trade repositories and credit rating agencies has been extended to the same date. For EEA payment services and e-money firms, the notification window for temporary permission is currently closed, but it will open again under the relevant HM Treasury Regulations on 31 July and end on 30 October.

Nausicaa Delfas, Executive Director of International at the Financial Conduct Authority said:

“As more information emerges about what Brexit will mean for financial services, firms need to make sure they understand the implications and plan accordingly.  If firms are unsure of our expectations or what they need to do, they should visit our Brexit pages on the FCA website.

Parliament has also legislated to give the UK financial regulators powers to make transitional directions connected to changes in financial services legislation made under the EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018.  The FCA have stated that it intends to make use of the temporary transitional power to ensure that firms and other regulated persons can generally continue to comply with their regulatory obligations as they did before exit. This will enable firms to adjust to post-exit requirements in an orderly way.

We have also published information on those areas where we are not providing transitional relief (for example, firms subject to the MIFID II transaction reporting regime, and connected persons). In these areas, we expect firms and other regulated entities to take reasonable steps to comply with the changes to their regulatory obligations by exit day. The FCA has explained previously that, in the event that the UK leaves the EU without an implementation period, it will not take a strict liability approach and do not intend to take enforcement action against firms and other regulated entities for not meeting all requirements straight away, where there is evidence they have taken reasonable steps to prepare to meet the new obligations by exit day. However, firms should use the additional time between now and the end of October to prepare to meet these obligations.  If firms are not ready to meet these obligations in full, we will expect to see evidence why this was not possible.”