Article 2 Amendment of the Regulated Activities Order relating to the definition of “investment firm”

In the Regulated Activities Order, in Part 1 of Schedule 3 (exemptions from the definition of “investment firm”)^f1—

(a)

in paragraph 1(k), for the words from “, considered both individually” to the end, substitute “satisfies either condition in paragraph 1A and paragraph 2 applies”;

(b)

after paragraph 1, insert—

“1A

The conditions are that—

(a)

the activity, considered both individually and on an aggregate basis, is an ancillary activity to P's main business when considered on a group basis as determined in accordance with rules made under paragraph 2A(a), or

(b)

the activity, when considered individually, is below an annual threshold as determined in accordance with rules made under paragraph 2A(b).”;

(c)

in paragraph 2—

(i)

in the opening words of sub-paragraph (a), after “P’s main business” insert “, when considered on a group basis,”;

(ii)

in sub-paragraph (a)(i), after “investment services” insert “, unless the activity referred to in paragraph 1(k)(i) or (ii) is below an annual threshold as determined in accordance with rules made under paragraph 2A”;

(iii)

in sub-paragraph (c), after “P’s main business” insert “, when considered on a group basis, or below an annual threshold as determined in accordance with rules made under paragraph 2A”;

(d)

after paragraph 2, insert—

“2A

The FCA may make rules^f2 specifying the following for the purposes of determining whether P is excluded from the definition of “investment firm” under paragraph 1(k)—

(a)

the criteria for establishing when an activity is ancillary to P’s main business on a group basis under paragraph 1A(a), and

(b)

the annual threshold referred to in paragraph 1A(b) and the criteria for establishing when an activity is below that threshold.”.

Annotations

Footnotes

f1: Schedule 3 was substituted by S.I. 2018/1403 and amended by S.I. 2023/548. There are other amendments which are not relevant.
f2: See section 417(1) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 for the definitions of “the FCA” and “rule”. The definitions of “the FCA” and “rule” were inserted by section 48(1) of the Financial Services Act 2012 (c. 21).