This page provides data on our authorisations activities, including the number of new authorisations for each sector and the number of individuals in scope of the Senior Manager and Certification Regime.
Our outcomes
Authorisations operating efficiency icon
Our metrics also provide an insight into our internal processes including our responses to pre-vetting listed issuers’ documents and our staff turnover.
Metrics
Use the dropdown menu below to view the metrics and the latest results.
What the metric values tell us
The FCA gateway remains critical to supporting growth and international competitiveness in the UK. As the entry point to the UK financial services sector, our Authorisations function is evolving to meet today’s challenges, including innovative business models, emerging technologies and increased global competition for firms seeking to establish or expand. We are engaging with firms earlier and more clearly, making proportionate decisions and continuing to focus on the quality of applications.
Our Authorisations teams continue to manage high volumes across most application routes. Changes in application volumes [OE-M01] are generally within normal range. While the demand for new authorisations and registrations has remained stable, the number of cancellations (indicating firm exits) [OE-M07] has continued to fall, from 5,140 in 2023/24 to 3,432 in 2025/26.
Most applications are approved. Where they do not proceed, withdrawal is more common than formal refusal. The number of withdrawals has fallen significantly, from 809 in 2023/24 to 389 in 2025/26. This reflects better applicant readiness, supported by clearer guidance and increased pre-application engagement.
Use of the Authorisations pre-application support service[2] (PASS) has grown significantly, particularly in Payments, Cryptoassets and Wholesale. This is helping firms to better understand regulatory expectations before submitting applications [OE-M02-M03, M04]. PASS usage increased by 218 (247%), following an expansion of the service capacity to meet demand (see Annual Reports and Accounts metrics).
We assess 99.3% of authorisation cases across all case types within statutory service standards. We meet statutory deadlines for most new firm authorisations, variation of permission, change in control and senior manager approvals [OE-M05].
We have agreed more ambitious new statutory deadlines with the Treasury. From Q3 2025/6, we report our performance against additional voluntary targets in our quarterly Authorisations operating service metrics[3].
We review and approve documents for corporate finance transactions, assess listing eligibility for new applicants, and provide regulatory guidance. Predictable and timely responses are important for companies planning and carrying out transactions. We continue to deliver a high level of service, meeting almost all our internal turnaround time targets for pre-vetting documents submitted from listed issuers, unlisted issuers, and new applicants [OE‑M06].
We revised the Market Cleanliness (MC) statistic [OE-M08] methodology in November 2024. We explain these changes in Research Note: A revision of our market cleanliness statistic methodology[4]. The revised approach means the figures are not comparable with earlier data and are generally higher.
The MC statistic for 2025 is 41.1%. The 5-year moving average is 33.74%.
The MC statistic is just one indicator of possible insider dealing. Despite methodological improvements, it has limitations as a wider measure of market cleanliness. It only captures instances where an official RNS takeover offer announcement has caused a positive abnormal price movement in the 2 days before the news. Not all insider trading leads to a price impact in this period. Price movements may also reflect accurate predictions by financial analysts or the media about takeover targets.
We use a range of indicators alongside this measure, including Abnormal Trading Volume (ATV) and the Potentially Anomalous Trading Ratio (PATR).
ATV looks for unusual increases in trading volumes before potentially price sensitive announcements. It covers equity instruments and some equity derivatives. The ATV measure for 2025 was 8.1%, an increase from 2024. Market volatility remained high during this period, driven by global events, which may have affected the measure. This reflects abnormal increases in trading volumes in 154 of 1,898 announcements.
Statistically significant increases in volumes does not mean that market abuse has occurred before each of these announcements. Trading volumes can change for many reasons, but it is an indicator that market abuse may have occurred.
PATR looks at potentially anomalous trading before price sensitive announcements that may be unusual. The PATR for 2025 is 5.5%, a small increase from 4.1% in 2024.
It is important to understand this ratio in the context of overall trading activity. Around 99.5% of trading activity does not take place during a sensitive period, such as before a price sensitive announcement with a significant price movement. Of the 0.5% of trading activity that justified further review, only 5.5% is considered potentially anomalous. This represents a very small proportion of overall UK trading activity.
Overall satisfaction among fixed firms remained broadly stable, at 7.2 in 2026 compared with 7.1 in 2025 [OE-M09].
More fixed firms said our interactions with them were clear, rising from 70% in 2025 to 82% in 2026. The proportion reporting consistent interactions increased, from 64% to 76%. Both measures are now close to 2023/24 levels (83% for clarity and 74% for consistency).
Most fixed firms continue to find our interactions relevant, with levels increasing from 77% in 2023/24 to 80% in 2025 and 87% in 2026.
In 2026, 45 fixed firms took part in the FCA & Practitioner Panel survey, compared with 4,765 flexible firms. Because there are fewer large firms, this imbalance is unavoidable. As a result, results from fixed firms are more sensitive to changes in responses. Small shifts in responses, including from a small number of firms, can lead to noticeable changes in the results. Some differences may reflect random variation rather than a true change in sentiment.
These results sit alongside our Supervision reforms, which focus regulatory effort on the highest risks and aim to make our approach more predictable, purposeful and proportionate. We are testing this approach with firms, trade associations and statutory panels, with wider rollout planned through 2026. We will communicate clearly where there are implications for firms as the model develops. We will also review how we record this data and reflect any changes in future metrics updates.
Our full-time equivalent (FTE) staff numbers increased to 5,419 in 2025/26, up from 5,303 in 2024/25 and 4,723 in 2023/24. The overall turnover rate fell to 7.5%, from 8.5% in 2024/25 and 9.9% in 2023/24 [OE-M10].
Voluntary turnover, where colleagues choose to leave, was 6.0% for 2025/26. This has continued to fall and is now the lowest since the FCA was established.
FTE numbers in Supervision, Policy and Competition increased by 7%, reflecting business needs and the inclusion of apprentices, parental leave, long‑term sick and secondments within divisional totals. This is a 19.5% increase from 2023/24.
FTE numbers in Operations also increased. These increases across certain functions are partly due to the transfer of some of the Payments Systems Regulator colleagues into the FCA.
View all FCA Secondary international competitiveness and growth objective (SICGO) metrics[5]