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Authorisations staff work closely with supervisory
colleagues in respect of existing licenceholders that
may apply to extend their current services and seek
additional permissions or classes of regulated
activity. In these cases, the level of compliance of
the existing licenceholder with regulatory
requirements is a matter of focus, as well as the
nature of the new permissions being sought.
Authorisations staff also handle applications for
fitness and propriety assessments from
licenceholders in respect of certain senior staff and
officers in relation to regulated activity under the
FSA08. Over the period of the report 374 such
applications were considered. Many of these result
from changes within licenceholders as well as from
new business applications. Procedures for
conducting fitness and propriety assessments are
currently under review with a view to ensuring the
process is sufficiently focussed and efficient.
During the period of this report staff of the
Authority continued to offer support and guidance
to businesses considering the Island as ‘the place to
do business’. A wide variety of business
propositions have been reviewed and there has
been no common theme to the enquiries received.
The range of potential activities has included
alternative banking operations, investment
platforms, as well as trust and corporate service
provider business. Enquiries range from tentative
initial queries to formal applications for licensing or
authorisation. A number of the enquiries have been
directed to the Authority, through the Department
of Economic Development, as a result of its
promotion of the Island. In this regard, regular
liaison meetings take place with that Department
to discuss matters of common interest.
SUPERVI S ION
SUPERVI SORY APPROACH
The Authority’s knowledge and understanding
of any regulated entity, its activities and the
principal risks to which it is exposed, develops on
an ongoing basis through a combination of desk-
based analysis, discussion with management and
on-site inspection visits. On-site inspection visits
are undertaken using a risk-based model, and they
focus on the effectiveness of management and
controls as well as specific themes and risks per
sector or entity.
The Authority receives information about each
regulated entity from a variety of sources,
including annual, quarterly and ad hoc regulatory
submissions. These contain detailed information
in respect of the financial position, compliance and
governance of each regulated entity along with
other sector specific matters.
Supervision is undertaken through two Divisions
of the Authority: Banking, Funds & Investments
Division, and Insurance, Pensions & Fiduciary
Services Division. Supervisory staff are allocated to
the various sub-sectors as follows:
•
Banking (deposit takers, credit unions and
money transmission entities)
•
Funds and Investment Services (financial
advisers, investment managers, stockbrokers,
fund administrators and managers,
custodians, investment platforms,
crowdfunding platforms)
•
Insurance (including insurance intermediaries,
insurance managers and life companies)
•
Pensions (including retirement benefits
schemes)
•
Fiduciary Services (trust and corporate
service providers).
There is also a Risk and Compliance teamwhich is
responsible amongst other things for elements of
internal systems, controls and procedures, managing
and updating guidance, and financial analysis.
Supervisory staff have continued to provide
feedback sessions (on the general nature of
findings from supervisory visits) to the various
industry sectors during the year, and staff have also
been heavily involved in the MONEYVAL mutual
evaluation assessment of the Island’s AML/CFT
framework. Further information on each sector is
provided separately.
Isle of Man Financial Services Authority Annual Report 2016/17 • 13