FCA has outlined its approach to authorisation and to competition. It notes it is one of the few financial regulators in the world with an objective that includes promoting competition. It wants to understand, in relation to authorisations:

• whether applicants clearly understand how to meet the Threshold Conditions – and, if not, how FCA could be more specific
• whether FCA could improve the way it supports firms and individuals towards meeting the minimum standards
• whether FCA suggests the right commitments to applicants and
• whether FCA has prioritised the right strategic goals.

In tandem with these questions, it asks questions about how it would be using its competition remit, for example for designing remedies to address the lack of competition and what indicators of potential harm it should use.