Comparable figures for the general insurance sector were 13490 registrations for an application pack and 9220 applications for authorisation. 6510 registrations were from the primary insurance market and 6980 from the secondary insurance market, i.e. those who sell general insurance products alongside other goods and services. With regard to applications for authorisation the estimated breakdown was 5049 from the primary insurance market and 4189 from the secondary insurance market.
Also, as at 1 October, 3762 "scope of permission" notices (SPN) had been sent to mortgage firms. An SPN formally sets out the range of activities the firm will be authorised to conduct and the date from which this permission starts.
By the same date 7927 letters had been sent to general insurance firms indicating that the FSA was "minded to authorise" (MTA) them to carry out general insurance business. Each MTA letter sets out the scope of permission the FSA is minded to grant to the particular firm, including any requirements and/or limitations and sets out the list of individuals whom we are minded to approve to carry on controlled functions on behalf of the firm. The firms receiving MTA letters will be set to receive a confirmed SPN later this year, unless the FSA reconsiders following significant change in a firm's circumstances or new information emerges in the interim.
Additionally, as at 1 October, 4227 applications had been received for a variation of permission from already FSA-supervised firms who wish to conduct mortgage or general insurance business in addition to their current regulated activities, 2917 for mortgage (or mortgage and GI permissions) and 1310 for general insurance only. 3657 SPNs had been sent by this date: 2641 in respect of mortgages (or mixed business) and 1016 in respect of general insurance.
SPNs have been issued to 78 new firms and to 32 existing firms wishing to operate a network with a mortgage (or mixed business) permission. In addition, MTA letters have been issued to 78 new firms wishing to operate a network for general insurance business only (and to 6 existing networks wishing to vary their permission in respect of general insurance business only).
Sarah Wilson, Director FSA High Street Firms Division, said: “Mortgage Day – 31 October – is now only three weeks away and almost all the mortgage firms who have applied to us and successfully met the Threshold Conditions in the FSM Act have already received their SPNs confirming authorisation and allowing them to continue to do mortgage business from that day. Further SPNs are being sent out daily to mortgage firms. However there are still firms who have left a decision on direct authorisation or their chosen network even to this late stage. We will do our best to deal with late notifications of appointed representatives and indeed applications before M Day, but we cannot compromise the integrity of our scrutiny or of our decision making process. Outstanding applications and AR notifications should therefore be submitted immediately and firms should make doubly sure that the required forms are complete and correct to help with the processing.
“With general insurance the milestone of 13 July by which applications should have been received to guarantee a turn round by GI Day - 14 January next year - is well past. But we continue to receive GI applications and we will continue to do our best to turn these round within the remaining period – submissions should be received as soon as possible to assist us in this. We will begin issuing SPNs to insurance firms no later than the middle of November.”
