FCA Fees and Levies 2015-16

The FCA has published PS15/15 “FCA regulated fees and levies 2015/16” which includes feedback on its March Consultation Paper; Regulatory Roundup 64 provides details of the latter.

All respondents to the consultation raised concerns about the 7.9% increase in the ‘annual funding requirement’ (AFR) to £481.6m – although PS15/15 reveals that the final AFR remains unchanged.

The final rates have now been uploaded to the FCA’s ‘Fee Calculator’ and, if not already received, firms should be receiving FCA invoices very shortly.

The annual ‘fee’ payable by a firm includes not only the FCA’s periodic fee but also various levies such as the FSCS levy.  Some firms, including ‘portfolio managers’ (fee-block A.7), ‘advisors, arrangers, dealers or brokers’ (A.13) and ‘managers and depositaries of investment funds, and operators of collective investment schemes or pension schemes’ (A.9) will note that a new levy appears – the ‘Pensions Guidance Service’ levy.  This levy recovers the costs of the pension reforms under which people are entitled to free impartial guidance at retirement to help them make the most of their pensions.