Many of firms will be aware that the FCA issued the first phase of the Covid-19 Impact Survey in June 2020, covering around 13,000 firms across 15 Supervision portfolios (Tranche 1), and then rolled this out to a further 9,500 firms in 21 portfolios (Tranche 2) at the beginning of August 2020. Since then the FCA have repeated this survey for both Tranches two more times to understand the change in firms’ financial positions with time. The FCA survey has helped them to obtain an accurate view of the impact of Covid-19 and supported their work to mitigate risks of harm to consumers, the market and competition within it.
They will now be repeating this survey for a fourth time.
The Regulator is planning to send this survey to the relevant firms in Tranche 2:
Batch 1: to be sent on 19 May 2021 – response due by 9 June 2021
Batch 2: to be sent on 20 May 2021 – response due by 10 June 2021
Batch 3: to be sent on 21 May 2021 – response due by 11 June 2021
Batch 4: to be sent on 25 May 2021 – response due by 15 June 2021
Firms will receive a ‘warm-up/introduction email’ at least 1 day prior to them receiving the survey.
This survey will include 10 questions in total, designed to give the FCA information about the following important areas:
- Liquidity/cash availability and needs
- Recent financial performance
- Scale of business activity
- Access to government schemes
The survey will be sent to all firms in the following Tranche 2 portfolios unless they satisfy specific exclusion criteria:
- Exchanges
- Asset management
- Wholesale brokers
- Wholesale banks
- Principal trading firms
- Wholesale (other)
- Life third party administrators
- Multilateral Trading Facilities and Organised Trading Facilities
- Alternatives
- Benchmarks
- Claims management
- Lloyd’s & London market intermediaries
- Retail mortgage lenders
- Mortgage third party administrators
- Lifetime mortgage providers
- Debt advice firms (excl. not-for-profit)
- Non-bank lenders
- Mortgage intermediaries
- Motor finance providers
- Retail finance providers
- Price comparison websites
Firms will be emailed a link to complete the survey online (not through Gabriel). The FCA have said it is designed to be easy to complete even via a mobile device and expect that most firms will not need more than an hour to complete the survey. The link sent to firms will be unique to each firm. If firms need a different individual within their organisation (or a consultant) to answer and submit the survey, the link can be forwarded to the required person.
Following several phishing emails and scams during the last survey cycles, firms should check that the survey is sent from either FCA@fcanewsletters.org.uk or an @fca.org.uk email address.
It is important to note that completion of the survey is mandatory under section 165 of the Financial Services & Markets Act (FSMA) 2000. The FCA may exercise our powers under FSMA for firms who do not respond. The survey is designed so that it is quick and simple to complete. However, if due to exceptional circumstances a firm cannot access its financial information, they will need to ensure that they complete the questions where the relevant information is available.
The FCA have said, “our core responsibilities include protecting consumers and enhancing the integrity of the UK financial markets. We know that financial stresses can put additional pressure on firms and so we are seeking to understand the effect Covid-19 is having on the finances of the firms we regulate and better guide our supervisory actions.”
If you receive survey and need assistance, please contact the team on 01423 522 599.
