PTI is already authorised as an IFA network and applied to have its authorisation permissions varied to cover Mortgage and General Insurance business earlier this year.
The FSA’s notification means that when Mortgage and General Insurance business become regulated by the FSA in October 2004 and January 2005 respectively, PTI will be able to operate as a ‘total’ network offering intermediaries access to all regulated retail financial services products backed by comprehensive administration and compliance support services.
John Ruddick, PTI’s Director of Compliance and Training, said: “I am delighted to confirm that the FSA has notified us that it is minded to approve us as a firm authorised to carry out Mortgage and GI business. From a compliance point of view this is the last piece in the jigsaw of being able to offer intermediaries access to the whole range of financial services products from January next year.”
Mike Allison, PTI’s Managing Director, said: “This is the result of a process which has been taking place over the past few years where we have developed and implemented a number of key infrastructure changes to enable us to operate across all product areas. Come January 2005 we will be able to operate as a complete network able to offer intermediaries access to a comprehensive range of products and services through our Financial Services Supermarket and its rapidly growing regional network of branches, each of which are operated and owned by our Appointed Representatives.”
He added: “We anticipate that this news will provide a major boost to our objective of recruiting intermediaries as Appointed Representatives of our Financial Services Supermarket.”
Later this month PTI will be unveiling the latest piece of its infrastructure development – a state of the art client and business administration called the PTI Dashboard. This has been designed from the ground up to enable PTI network members to boost the profitability and efficiency of their businesses.
