The regulator said that the fees will be used to cover the cost of the FCA’s regulatory activities, including market studies on pensions, work on pensions, a market study into competition in investment banking, and implementing the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standard’s recommendations on accountability.
38% of regulated firms will continue to pay the minimum fee which will increase to £1084 from £1000, the first increase since 2010.
Martin Wheatley, FCA chief executive, said:
“These proposals seek to share the cost of being regulated and ensure the FCA has the right resources in place to deliver appropriate protection for consumers and make markets work well.”
The publication also sets out the proposed fees for the Money Advice Service and Ombudsman Service, which are collected by the FCA on their behalf.
The FCA will collect £23.3m from the Ombudsman Servivce which is the same amount asked for in 2013/14, and will be recovered in the same proportions across the industry.
It will also collect £79.1 million on behalf of MAS, whose overall budget for 2015/16 is £81.1m, the same as last year.
In addition the FCA has proposed fees for firms offering consumer credit, the pension guidance levy (which covers the cost of the government’s Pension Wise initiative) and the Payment Systems Regulator, which fall, outside the FCA’s annual funding requirement.
Firms can check their prospective fees for next year using the FCA fees calculator from 4pm today.
Robert Sinclair, Chief Executive of AMI, said
“Whilst FCA are headlining an 8.5% increase which is being passed on across the board, this is never quite how it plays out in practice. For the small broker who has paid the minimum fee of £1,000 for a number of years, this is to be increased to £1,084 and they will also have to pay a new levy to undertake consumer buy-to-let totalling £350 to include their FOS levy. On top of this brokers have still to see clarity on whether or not they need a Consumer Credit permission to talk about some historic loans and mortgages raised for commercial purposes.
"All of this means that the small broker will see their FCA fees rise by over 50% per annum. In a zero inflation world, with government committed to reducing bureaucratic costs, this is a travesty. AMI wants FCA to clearly justify to mortgage brokers the need for such increases when they carrying on the same business they have always done.
"For larger firms we also expect to see their bills rise by more than the published 8.5%, and we will be monitoring the final numbers in June carefully.”
