The regulator has confirmed the forms will be submitted in large batches and in no particular order.
Robin Gordon-Walker, spokesman at the FSA, said: “The MTA letters were sent out in line with how early and promptly brokers got their FSA applications to us. This practice will not be exercised when we send out the formal authorisations. The only hold-up will occur if something new comes up where we have to revisit the firm and ask it additional questions.”
London-based sole broker Roy New, said: “Due to various reasons I handed my FSA application a week late after the deadline so there was always the uncertainty that I would not get the formal authorisation in time. This confirmation from the FSA that there is no pecking order will be encouraging to certain brokers.”
But Rod Murdison, proprietor at Murdison & Browning, believed the FSA had led brokers to believe differently. “The FSA application procedure was always incentivised so there was the certain implication that if you got your forms in early you would get your MTA and FAF letters ahead of others who sent in their forms later,” he said.
