Closure of AIFM landing slots under the TPR

The FCA’s allocated landing slots for Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFMs) marketing Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) in the UK under the FCA’s Temporary Permissions Regime (TPR) will close on 1 November 2021.

If an application is not submitted before the closing date, the FCA may cancel the AIFM’s temporary permission.

Temporary Permission Regime

The TPR allowed EEA-based firms that were passporting into the UK at the end of the Brexit transition period (31 December 2020) to continue operating in the UK within the scope of their previous passport permission for a limited period after the end of the transition period.

Under the terms of the TPR, firms must seek full authorisation by the PRA or the FCA before their closing dates in order to continue accessing the UK market.

Landing Slots

Landing slots refer to the period when a firm can either apply for full (non-temporary) Part 4A permission or to vary its existing Part 4A permission where the firm has a UK top-up permission.

The FCA has primarily allocated landing slots by reference to the type of business which firms are conducting. The landing slot for AIFMs marketing AIFs opened on 1 July 2021 and will close on 1 November 2021.

Changing Landing Slots

Firms can ask to change their landing slots. However requests must normally be received within 20 working days of the firm’s closing date. Unless extraordinary circumstances apply, it may be difficult to persuade the FCA to approve changing landing slots just before the closing date.

Requests to the FCA can be made by emailing [email protected] with the following information:

UK firm reference number(s)
full name of the firm(s)
contact details
current opening/closing dates
proposed opening/closing dates
reason(s) for the request
confirmation that the person making the request is authorised on behalf of the firm to do so

The FCA is also unable to defer a closing date beyond 31 December 2022.

Submitting an application

Firms can submit an application using the FCA’s Connect system.

Failure to submit an application

Should the firm fail to submit an application before their closing date the FCA will serve the firm a decision notice stating the date when temporary permission ends. If the firm is eligible, it will move into the supervised run-off (SRO) mechanism. The FCA may also decide that a firm will not enter the SRO. In this case, the firm’s temporary permission will end with the decision notice and the firm will no longer be permitted to operate under the TPR in the UK.