The FCA is the regulator for Claims Management Companies (CMCs) and took over this responsibility from the Claims Management Regulator (a division of the Ministry of Justice) in March 2019. If you want to carry out regulated claims management activities you need to be authorised by the FCA.
What are regulated claims management activities?
There are six different areas which fall within regulated claims management activities - personal injury, employment, financial services/financial products, housing disrepair specified benefits and criminal injury.
If you intend to help claimants to purse any of the above types of claims, you will need to be authorised by the FCA. Depending on the activities that you will be conducting, there are two main types of FCA permissions you will need:
- Seeking out referrals and identifying claims
- Advising, investigating or representing claimants.
Key considerations
Your FCA application needs to pay particular attention to:
- Documented compliance arrangements - :Your application must clearly explain what compliance arrangements you have in place to meet your regulatory obligations. This includes having the relevant policies and procedures to run your business in a compliant manner.
- Senior Management Accountability - All CMCs must have at least one Senior Manager who will be approved by the FCA. Companies with an annual turnover of £1 million or more will also need to appoint an additional Senior Manager for the SMF16: Compliance Oversight Function.
- Client Asset Oversight Officer - Any firms which hold money belonging to a customer must appoint the above individual who will be responsible for client money operations, reporting to the Board and completing client money-related aspects of the regulatory returns.
- Solvency Requirements - All CMCs need to have minimum levels of capital depending on their annual income. If your income is below £1 million, you will be Class 1 CMC firm and will need to hold £5000. If your income is above £1 million, you will need to hold £10,000. In addition, if you are holding client money, you will need to hold an additional £20,000 in capital.
How we can help you
- We have an experienced team who understands the regulatory risks relating to FCA CMC applications which will help you to avoid the common pitfalls.
- We have subject matter expertise in the FCA rules as well as the FCA Claims Management Rules: - CMCOB.
- We can help you manage the key regulatory obligations relating to your business such as pre contract information, customer terms and conditions, complaints handling, vulnerable customers management etc.
- We also provide a fixed fee review service for an application which you may have prepared yourself. We can check your application before you submit it to the FCA.