FCA exposes 19,000 unregulated firms

The Financial Conduct Authority has released the names of every firm that previously held an OFT-controlled CCL licence, but has not, for any such reason, obtained interim permissions.

 

This huge announcement comes just over a month after the FCA took over supervision of the market on April 1st.

 

A number of firms from the bridging finance arena have included themselves within that list for unspecified reasons.

 

Intelligent Bridging, A1 Bridging Loans, Blue Cube Bridging, Bridging Funding, Ideal Bridging, PBF Bridging Loans and Total Bridging to name a few; have all not informed the FCA of their intentions to operate within the regulated market.

 

However, these firms can obviously continue to trade under the guise of unregulated commercial lending, which of course does not fall under the same umbrella as the CCL sector.

 

The full list of firms has been released and can be found here.

 

Overall, 49,405 firms obtained interim permissions, as opposed to just over 19,000 that did not.

 

With the FCA now firmly supervising the market, those that possess interim permissions have now been provided with “landing slots”, which dictate when a particular firm is to apply for its full authorisation for the FCA’s full takeover in 2016.

 

From June 1st, the Financial Conduct Authority will commence its phased and risk-based allocation of consumer credit licences (CCLs). 

 

Some firms, such as credit brokerages with category C and a debt adjusting category, have been given an earlier date in the allocation process, causing a large debate within the mainstream mortgage market.

 

However, in the meantime, those holding interim permissions must face the wrath of the full authorisation application and ensure the house is in order.