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We are likely to regulate your firm if you carry out any of the following activities:

• selling, arranging deals in, advising on, managing or trading in securities or any other investments, including most pensions;
• arranging, advising on, controlling or otherwise managing any scheme where other people's money or investments are pooled, or their profit or income is pooled, and those people do not share day-to-day control;
• selling, arranging, or advising on insurance for anybody else, or if you help policyholders claim on their insurance; and/or
• providing, arranging, or advising on home finance activities (this includes regulated mortgage contracts, home reversion plans and home purchase plans) for anybody else, or if you enter into or administer a contract/plan.

If you think your firm's business, or future business, may mean you need to be authorised then you can find out more on the links below:

Do I need to be authorised?
How do I get authorised?

If you are already authorised by us and you want to change the activities you are permitted to perform, you will need to complete the Application for Variation of Part IV Permission. You will need to do this if your firm wants to:

• remove/add the client money permission;
• remove/add an activity i.e. mortgages or general insurance etc;
• change the types of clients that you do business with; and
• change the investment types of your firm – that is, add or remove different types of general insurance products or investments.

Please note you will have to pay a fee if the variation of permission increases your firm's permitted business activities.

• If your application means your firm moves into a new fee block, you will pay the fee shown on our fee blocks guide. If it moves into more than one new fee block, you will pay the higher of any relevant fees.
• We charge £250 for applications that will increase your firm's permitted business activities but which will not change your firm's fee blocks.
• We do not charge a fee for applications to reduce your firm's permitted business activities.

If your firm is wanting to cancel their authorisation with the FSA then please complete the Application Cancellation of Part IV Permission.

Once we receive the application to cancel, we will give your firm a case officer who may contact you if they need more information. You can also ask your case officer for more details about the progress of your application.

You can check the FSA Register if you want information about firms we authorise. For example, you can find out:

1. the FSA authorisation of a firm or an approved person;
2. what permission we grant a firm;
3. the address and contact details for an authorised firm; and
4. the appointed representatives listed for a firm.

A person (or a group of people) can only be listed as approved if they are performing a controlled function. You can find a full list of controlled functions in our handbook.

Every firm, except an overseas firms, must apply to us for the approval of one or more persons to perform a controlled function on its behalf. To be registered as an approved person, the firm must complete and send us an Approved Persons Form A which can be viewed from our Handbook Supervision forms page.

For appointed representatives (except introducers) the descriptions of the following functions apply as they would apply to an authorised firm:

1. governing functions, subject to our Supervision Sourcebook (SUP) 10.1.16A R; and
2. the customer functions, other than the investment management function.

You should also use the Approved Person Form A for appointed representatives.

Further information on 'Becoming an approved person'.