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 circumstances in which authorisation is required are set out in the Perimeter Guidance manual (PERG). Information on the authorisation process can be found on the FSA website "How do I get authorised": http://www.fsa.gov.uk/Pages/Doing/how/index.shtml, and3 FEES 3 (Application, Notification and Vetting Fees) sets out the authorisation fees that are payable.2