Consultation Paper No. 1 2018: Investment Business Fees

Summary

This is a JFSC consultation paper proposing changes to the fee rates charged to investment business (IB) registrants under the Financial Services (Jersey) Law 1998 for the 2018/19 fee year. It sets out proposed inflation-linked fee increases and new rules on late payment of fees or late supply of fees information, and includes a draft Investment Business Fees Notice as Appendix B. As a consultation, it does not itself impose binding obligations but invites comments before a final fees notice is published.

• Who is affected: All persons registered under the Financial Services (Jersey) Law 1998 to conduct investment business, and persons issued a registration certificate on or after 1 May 2018.
• Fee increase: JFSC proposes to increase IB fee rates, including application fees, for 2018/19 by the rate of inflation (3.6%, based on 2017 calendar year CPI), with no change to investment employee fee bands.
• Late payment rules: Proposed amendments would make annual fees due by 31 May 2018, with interest accruing immediately if unpaid, and a flat-rate monthly charge if fee-calculation information is not supplied by that date.
• Draft fees notice (Appendix B): Sets out application and annual fee amounts by IB class (A/B/C, D, E), a 5% late payment fee applied monthly, a 200 pound administration fee for late-supplied information, and a 100 pound per month late filing fee for undelivered documents.
• Consultation process: Comments must be sent to Jersey Finance Limited or directly to the JFSC by 30 March 2018; the JFSC will publish feedback and the final fees notice in Q2 2018.

Because this is a consultation document rather than a final notice, the fee figures and late-payment rules described are proposals only and may change before the final Investment Business Fees Notice is issued.

Key obligations

• Interested parties wishing to comment must submit responses to Jersey Finance Limited or the JFSC by 30 March 2018.
• Under the draft notice, registered IB firms would need to pay the annual fee by 31 May 2018 (or the date an application is granted) to avoid late payment charges.
• Under the draft notice, firms would need to supply fee-calculation information by 31 May 2018 to avoid a 200 pound monthly administration fee.
• Under the draft notice, registered persons who fail to file required documents on time would be liable for a 100 pound per month late filing fee unless the JFSC agrees in writing to a later date.

Applies to

persons registered to carry on investment business under the Financial Services (Jersey) Law 1998, investment business (IB) registrants (Class A, B, C, D and E)

Deadlines

• 30 March 2018: Deadline for interested parties to submit consultation comments to Jersey Finance Limited or the JFSC.
• second quarter of 2018: JFSC to publish feedback and the final Investment Business Fees Notice.
• 1 May 2018 to 30 April 2019: Period for which the proposed fees notice and schedule would be effective.
• 31 May 2018: Proposed due date for annual fee payment and for supply of fee-calculation information, after which late payment interest or administration charges would begin accruing.
• 31 December 2018: If a person is registered after this date, the annual fee payable on registration is proposed to be half the fee otherwise payable.