# Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, Section 372: Petitions.

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

(1) The FCA may present a petition to the court—
(a) under section 264 of the 1986 Act (or Article 238 of the 1989 Order) for a bankruptcy order to be made against an individual; or
(b) under section 2 or 5 of the 2016 Act for the sequestration of the estate of an individual.
(1A) The PRA may present a petition to the court—
(a) under section 264 of the 1986 Act (or Article 238 of the 1989 Order) for a bankruptcy order to be made against an individual who is a PRA-regulated person;
(b) under section 2 or 5 of the 2016 Act for the sequestration of the estate of an individual who is a PRA-regulated person.
(2) But a petition may be presented by virtue of subsection (1) or (1A) only on the ground that—
(a) the individual appears to be unable to pay a regulated activity debt; or
(b) the individual appears to have no reasonable prospect of being able to pay a regulated activity debt.
(3) An individual appears to be unable to pay a regulated activity debt if he is in default on an obligation to pay a sum due and payable under an agreement.
(4) An individual appears to have no reasonable prospect of being able to pay a regulated activity debt if—
(a) a regulator has served on him a demand requiring him to establish to the satisfaction of that regulator that there is a reasonable prospect that he will be able to pay a sum payable under an agreement when it falls due;
(b) at least three weeks have elapsed since the demand was served; and
(c) the demand has been neither complied with nor set aside in accordance with rules.
(5) A demand made under subsection (4)(a) is to be treated for the purposes of the 1986 Act (or the 1989 Order) as if it were a statutory demand under section 268 of that Act (or Article 242 of that Order).
(6) For the purposes of a petition presented in accordance with subsection (1)(b) or (1A)(b)—
(a) the regulator by which the petition is presented is to be treated as a qualified creditor; and
(b) a ground mentioned in subsection (2) constitutes apparent insolvency.
(7) “Individual” means an individual—
(a) who is, or has been, an authorised person; or
(b) who is carrying on, or has carried on, a regulated activity in contravention of the general prohibition.
(8) “Agreement” means an agreement the making or performance of which constitutes or is part of a regulated activity carried on by the individual concerned.
(9) “Rules” means—
(a) in England and Wales, rules made under section 412 of the 1986 Act;
(b) in Scotland, rules made by order by the Treasury, after consultation with the Scottish Ministers, for the purposes of this section; and
(c) in Northern Ireland, rules made under Article 359 of the 1989 Order.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/8/section/372 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/financial-services-and-markets-act-2000/section-372
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.