Firms that held the permission for the regulated activity of ‘advising on investments’ automatically had their permissions varied to add the new regulated activity of ‘advising on peer to peer (P2P) agreements’ from 6 April 2016. This regulated activity can be seen on the Financial Services Register.
If your firm does not require this permission, you have until 31st December 2016 to remove it via the short form to remove the permission. Any applications to remove this permission after 31st December must be submitted using the Variation of Permission application form in the Connect system.
Pension Transfer charging
Alistair MacDougall Compliance abridged, FCA, P1, Pension, Pension Transfer, PI, transfer
Policy Statement PS 20-06 stated that a firm providing pension transfer advice “… may also not charge less than it would charge for investment advice of the same value”. That seems clear enough, but the rule that gives effect to this statement is subtly different. COBS 19.1B.7 states: “A firm should not charge less […]