A freedom of information request was submitted to the authority by law firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain. The request revealed that during the first quarter of 2012 the FSA’s authorisation process took 19.6 weeks, a 13% increase on last summer.
Figures from June 2011 recorded an average authorisation at 17.3 weeks, a process over two weeks shorter than current levels.
Steven Francis, partner at RPC, commented: “This represents lost opportunities for businesses which are being stalled by the authorisation process. It augers badly for the future when there will be two separate organisations that will be authorising new businesses.
“Having to wait an inordinately long time for FSA approval has been a real bugbear in the financial services sector for the last two years.
“Authorisation times rocketed after the credit crunch as the FSA started to scrutinise the business plans for financial services start-ups to an unprecedented degree.”
