The overhaul would see community finance organisations and credit unions exempted from paying fees, which would also be extended to mutual societies it registers but does not regulate.
The regulator also explained that UK firms contributing to funding debt advice bodies will be directed towards Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to support their debt advice activities.
And as part of its preparations for the UK to leave the European Union, credit rating agencies (CRAs) and trade repositories (TRs) will be brought under the FCA’s oversight.
Mutual society exemptions
The FCA’s CP 18-34 proposes to discontinue fee-block F which contains mutual societies that are registered but not authorised or regulated by the body.
“We maintain the register as a public service so we intend to recover the cost as an FCA overhead,” the regulator said.
“This would represent an addition of approximately 0.3% to the fees of variable fee-payers.
“We also propose to remove charges for inspecting the register, except where a member of the public requests a personal visit to FCA offices,” it added.
Inefficient use of resources
The regulator also proposes removing consumer credit fees for community finance organisations and credit unions which are already exempt from paying minimum fees.
“Identifying the few that are eligible for variable fees and calculating their charges is an inefficient use of our resources,” the FCA said.
“The reduction in revenue would be less than 0.3% of the total revenue from consumer credit fees.”
UK firms that currently contribute to debt advice funding across the UK, currently the Money Advice Service (MAS) will continue to do so.
However, to support the changes to national provision, part of these contributions will be designated for debt advice in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
This will also apply to EU firms in the temporary permissions regime.
Credit reference agencies
If and when the UK leaves the European Union, the FCA will take over regulation of CRAs and TRs.
The FCA has proposed charging these firms a moderately complex application fee of £5,000 for registration applications
It has also suggested CRAs with turnover less than €10m (£8.868m at current rate) should pay no annual fee while for TRs the minimum payment will be €30,000 (approximately £26,604).
