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ISSUE 10 | JULY 2017
THE FINANCIAL Conduct Authority (FCA) has pocketed up to £2m from full authorisation of the peer-to-peer lending sector, figures suggest. A freedom of information request by Peer2Peer Finance News shows that the City watchdog has considered 146 applications for full permission from P2P platforms since 2014 – when the FCA took over regulating the sector – with firms paying application fees of £600 to £15,000 depending on their income at the time. This reveals that the regulator has raised up to £2.1m if all firms paid £15,000, or a minimum of £87,600 if all firms paid the lowest fee of £600. The response does not detail how many applicants were approved or rejected, but firms must pay regardless of the outcome. According to the regulator, consumer credit firms applying for authorisation must pay a fee that is calculated on their income and how complex their business model is. At the lowest end of
FCA applications have cost the P2P sector up to £2m
the scale, those deemed straightforward with income of up to £50,000 pay just £600, but at the highest end, firms seen as complex with income of more than £1m pay £15,000. The FCA declined to provide a definitive figure but said the money is used to cover the time and
costs of processing and considering the applications. However, some platforms have expressed concerns that the watchdog has been able to sit on these funds while quickly authorising newer brands and keeping established lenders waiting months for a decision,
when they will potentially be losing market share. For example, Frazer Fernhead, founder of The House Crowd, which launched in 2012, said the property P2P platform applied for full authorisation in October 2015, paying around £10,000, and was still >> 4