Perimeter guidance meaning

Aim of this flowchart Under section 19 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, anyone who carries on a regulated activity in the UK in the course of business, without an applicable exclusion or exemption, must hold authorisation from the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and/or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This requirement is referred to as the general prohibition. For further detail on the general prohibition and the scope of regulated activities, consult the Practice Notes: The general prohibition and implications of its breach, and What are regulated activities? This flowchart is intended to assist in deciding whether a person is undertaking the regulated activities of effecting and carrying out contracts of insurance as principal, pursuant to article 10(1) and (2) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001 (SI 2001/544) (RAO). Any references here to PERG are to the FCA’s Perimeter Guidance Manual, which provides regulatory guidance within the FCA Handbook. It serves as a guide to the FCA Handbook...

Background to and scope of this flowchart On 31 October 2004—often called ‘M Day’—providers and brokers involved in regulated mortgage contracts (RMCs) came within the regulatory perimeter. Any individual or firm undertaking a regulated activity in the UK in the course of business, where no relevant exclusion or exemption applies, is required to hold authorisation under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA 2000)...

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In this issue: Sustainable finance and ESG round–up Spring Budget 2024 Banking and finance case round-up UK and international sanctions Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 LIBOR and benchmarks Security Guarantees Sustainable finance Derivatives Regulation for derivatives lawyers Structured products and securitisation Restructuring Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Useful information Sustainable finance and ESG round–up Sustainable finance and ESG weekly round–up: for this week’s digest of developments, see Sustainable finance and ESG weekly round-up—7 March 2024. Spring Budget 2024—key Banking & Finance announcements On 6 March 2024, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, outlined a series of steps of note for banking & finance lawyers. These include extending the Recovery Loan Scheme—now the Growth Guarantee Scheme—until the end of March 2026; consulting on the UK implementation of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Cryptoasset Reporting...

The consultation sets out how the FCA plans to operate a new regulatory gateway that would: place an automatic curb on FCA‑regulated firms that sign off financial promotions created by third parties require any firm wishing to keep approving promotions for others to apply to the FCA to have that approval ban lifted A tightening of the perimeter for financial promotion approvers was explored in July 2020 in a consultation response, where HM Treasury expressed concern that the current approval framework is inadequate, as authorised firms face no dedicated assessment before they may approve the financial promotions of unauthorised firms. The document identified three potential risk areas, including: insufficient expertise within approver firms: because financial promotions span a wide array of products and services, authorised firms can end up approving material beyond their competence, risking content that is misleading, inaccurate, or unsuitable for the target audience weaknesses in approver firm due diligence: the FCA’s guidance says authorised firms...

The general prohibition At the centre of the UK regulatory framework sits a fundamental restriction: no person may carry on a regulated activity in the UK, or hold themselves out as doing so, unless they are either: authorised by the appropriate regulator, or exempt This is the general prohibition, set out in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA 2000), s 19. The inclusion of the phrase ‘or purport to do so’ means a breach can arise even where no regulated activity is actually performed, if someone represents that they do or seeks to undertake it. Further information on the general prohibition, exemptions and the regulators can be found in: The general prohibition—overview The general prohibition and implications of its breach FCA—corporate governance UK regulators—financial services—overview What are regulated activities? Regulated activities—specified activities and investments—overview FCA and PRA authorisation under Part 4A of FSMA 2000 Businesses, firms and...

Scope of this Practice Note This Practice Note sets out the Eurosystem’s policy for the future of European payments, covering the comprehensive payments strategy published in March 2026, the Eurosystem cash strategy and the Eurosystem retail payments strategy. It assesses how these strands interact with the EU legal framework for payment services, electronic money, cryptoassets and the digital euro, including the recast Payment Services Directive (Directive (EU) 2015/2366) (PSD2), the proposed third Payment Services Directive (PSD3), the proposed Payment Services Regulation (EU PSR), the Markets in Cryptoassets Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2023/1114) (MiCA), the Instant Payments Regulation and the proposed digital euro regime. This Practice Note concentrates on strategy and policy direction. For more detail, see: the payment services perimeter, authorisation, conduct, transparency, security and strong customer authentication requirements: Practice Note: EU regulation of payment services-essentials electronic money (e-money) regulation: Practice Note: EU regulation of electronic money-essentials the digital euro and other EU related central bank digital currency issues: Practice Note: EU regulation of CBDCs...

The solicitors’ profession operates within a tightly controlled framework. Alongside the core legal regulators, including the Legal Services Board (LSB) and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), several other regulatory and public bodies influence the profession and its oversight. This Practice Note outlines how the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) interact with the regulation of solicitors. For detail on the principal legal regulators, refer to Practice Note: Relationship between legal regulators. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) The FCA is the UK’s sole statutory supervisor for financial services. Its remit and aims stem chiefly from the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, as amended (FSMA 2000). Functioning independently from government, the FCA is wholly financed by the firms within its regulatory perimeter. The FCA Handbook can be accessed online, where all FCA rules and guidance are published, together with a range of tools designed to help users navigate and apply the Handbook...