It allows entrepreneurial individuals to quickly deploy their knowledge of the marketplace in supporting their customers, whilst developing their own brokerage/insurance business. It is a significant move away from the schemes that the industry was custom to through ‘insurance agents’, who were often tied into selling one scheme or products of one insurer.

Background

Insurance advice, arranging and execution is a regulated profession in the United Kingdom which is governed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Prior to setting up a business as a broker or insurance professional (i.e. someone who sells insurance directly to the end customer/insured) you will need to demonstrate that you have knowledge and expertise that qualifies you to deal with the public in this area and/or have risk placement experience if seeking to establish the AR as a London Placement solution.

The Appointed Representative Route:

Typically, the biggest challenges in FCA authorisations are they are related costs, resource and timeframes.

As a result, a the FCA have a solution, referred to as the “Appointed Representative regime” or ‘AR’. It’s characteristics distinguish it from the FCA/direct authorisation route as follows:

A direct authorised and often established insurance organisation acts as a ‘Principal’ and it appoints the new individual (or company) as one of its appointed representatives or as its more commonly called, an ‘AR’;
The Principal is responsible to deal with many of the authorisation process and FCA approval issues for the entity and association directors of the AR through the Principal’s FCA REGDATA platform.
The Principal is also required to report to the FCA for regulatory reporting and their own capital adequacy provisions, which typically offsets the need for the AR to find substantial sums of money up front;
The operating procedures may vary from one Principal to another and that’s why it’s imperative that you set out the agreement in line with your business model;
You will be able to develop and maintain your own customer portfolio, with the customers remaining yours and not the Principal’s. (However, always check with the Principal as not all Principal’s allow the AR to ‘keep’ the clients upon exit) – unlike UK Brokerlink, where the clients and ownership are always yours.

So, is it right for you?

As to its suitability for you and your model, it might be worthwhile to consider the following questions:

Would you prefer to leave things such as statutory reporting and compliance to someone else?
Is your own customer portfolio and retention important?
Would you rather spend more time on building clients and fostering relationship for your business growth?
Are you looking for a support structure to assist your business to grow?

If you answered ‘Yes’ to any of the above, then contact us for a confidential meeting and see how we can help.

Key Contacts

Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Noah Jamal BSc (Econ)

Chief Financial Officer

Is the FCA AR model suitable for me?

Background

The Appointed Representative Route:

So, is it right for you?

Key Contacts

Noah Jamal BSc (Econ)

Colin Tue (BA Hons, CGMA)