Financial firms in UK must wait an average of almost six months to get regulatory approval from the UK markets regulator, double the time it took five years ago, according to the data from London based law firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC).
According to RPC, approval times for new financial firms hit an average 25.8 weeks in the second quarter of this year, the second longest since a peak of 25.9 weeks in the same quarter of 2012. The average wait in the second quarter of 2008 was 13.9 weeks.
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The FCA has outlined plans in March to cut in half the time it took new banks to get approval by making necessary changes to regulatory and authorisation needs.
The FCA and the Bank of England took over control from the Financial Services Authority, which has been scrapped. Some firms must get approval from the FCA and the central bank.
Richard Burger, a lawyer at RPC, said: "Such are the delays in getting approval from the regulator that many very viable financial services businesses never get off the drawing board.
"If the FCA continues to scrutinize new start-ups much more rigorously than its predecessor, then we can expect to see long authorization times becoming a big problem," Burger added.
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By GlobalDataFCA said: "We are also working with trade bodies to ensure that applicants understand how they can demonstrate they meet our requirements, which will enable us to consider applications more quickly."
The FCA added there was a balance to be struck between speed and protecting customers.
