CRED 13.5 What does authorisation involve?
An applicant seeking to carry on the activity of accepting deposits (a regulated activity) must seek authorisation by way of a Part IV permission (so called because the relevant provisions are contained in Part IV of the Act). For the purposes of the legislation, members' shares in a credit union are considered to be deposits (in the same way that shares in a building society are considered to be deposits).
Whilst there is a single deposit-taking permission, applicants will need to decide whether to apply to be a version 1 credit union or a version 2 credit union.
An applicant for Part IV permission must also obtain approval by the FSA of persons who perform one or more controlled functions. The approved persons regime and controlled functions, as they apply to credit unions, are explained in CRED 6.
The FSA's Authorisation manual (AUTH) explains in full the circumstances in which authorisation is required, the authorisation process and the FSA's powers in relation to authorisation. The key chapters of AUTH for a person applying, or considering applying, to the FSA to become a credit union with a Part IV permission to accept deposits are:
- (1)
AUTH 3: Applications for Part IV permission;
- (2)
AUTH 4: Authorisation fees;
- (3)
AUTH 6: Approved persons; and
- (4)
AUTH 8: Determining applications.