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Glossary

SUP 12

SUP 12 is the chapter of the FCA's Supervision manual that governs Appointed Representatives: when a firm may appoint one, what the contract must say, how the principal oversees and reviews them, what it must tell the FCA, and how the relationship ends. Most of its current shape comes from PS22/11, in force since 8 December 2022.

The chapter, section by section

  • SUP 12.1 and 12.2: who the chapter applies to, and what ARs, IARs, networks and tied agents are.
  • SUP 12.3: the principal's responsibility for its ARs under section 39 FSMA.
  • SUP 12.4: the tests before appointing an AR (12.4.2R) or IAR (12.4.6R), due diligence guidance and multiple principal agreements.
  • SUP 12.5: the required contract terms (12.5.5R), the single-principal restriction (12.5.6AR) and the IAR scope (12.5.7R).
  • SUP 12.6: continuing obligations, including remediate or terminate (12.6.1R), no client money (12.6.5R) and keeping ARs within scope (12.6.6R).
  • SUP 12.6A: the annual review (12.6A.2R), triggered reviews (12.6A.3R), their records (12.6A.4R) and the annual self-assessment (12.6A.6R).
  • SUP 12.7: notifications, including the 30-day notice of a new AR (12.7.1R), changes (12.7.7R), regulatory hosting (12.7.9AR) and REP025 (12.7.9DR).
  • SUP 12.8 and 12.9: termination within ten business days of the decision (12.8.1R), and record keeping.
  • Annexes 1 to 7: guidance on financial position and fitness, the add, change and terminate forms, REP025, and the remediation flowchart.

Common misconceptions

“The self-assessment is in SUP 12.7.”
It is in SUP 12.6A (12.6A.6R). SUP 12.7 holds the notifications and REP025.
“SUP 12 is mostly guidance.”
The core obligations are rules: 12.4.2R, 12.5.5R, 12.6.1R, 12.6A.2R, 12.6A.3R, 12.6A.6R, 12.7.1R, 12.7.9DR and 12.8.1R.

In Merrin

Merrin is built around SUP 12: each obligation in the chapter is a requirement, a scheduled return, a review or a filing in the product.

Reviews & approvals

Sources

Checked against these sources on . This is general information, not legal advice.

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