JFSC Consultation Paper No. 9 2020 - Consultation on DNFBP Fees

Summary

This is a JFSC consultation paper seeking industry views on how fees are calculated and levied for designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs) registered under the Proceeds of Crime (Supervisory Bodies) (Jersey) Law 2008. It does not itself change any fees; it sets out the JFSC's 2021 funding target of approximately £750,000 from the DNFBP sector and three alternative strategic approaches to achieving that target, plus proposed increases to application and alteration fees.

• Application fees: Proposal to raise the flat £100 application fee to £150 for sole traders and £400 for all other applicants.
• New alteration fees: Proposal to introduce a fee of £150 (sole traders) or £400 (others) for requests to change a registered person's name or to add, amend or remove licence conditions, which are currently free.
• Option 1 - increase fees within current mechanism: An inflationary uplift of about 0.9% to existing base, sole trader and per-employee fees, and raising the fee cap from £22,000 to £27,500.
• Option 2 - remove fee cap and use rolling average employees: Abolish the fee cap entirely and calculate the employee-based element using a five-year rolling average number of employees, with adjustments to sole trader and per-employee fees.
• Option 3 - new fee bands: Replace the current fee mechanism with 16 fixed fee bands (from £400 to £55,000) based on the fee that would otherwise be payable without the cap, with a view to developing an alternative risk-based metric during 2021.

The proposals would apply to all persons currently registered under the Law and to those becoming registered on or after 1 January 2021. The JFSC is inviting written comments (directly or via Jersey Finance) by 17 December 2020, and intends to publish feedback and a final fees notice to take effect on or before 1 January, after which firms will be told when to use the myJFSC portal to collect invoices.

Key obligations

• Interested parties wishing to respond must submit comments to the JFSC or to Jersey Finance (coordinating a collective response) by 17 December 2020.
• Once finalised, registered DNFBPs will need to pay any revised application fees (proposed £150 for sole traders, £400 for others) and new alteration fees (proposed £150 for sole traders, £400 for others) when applying to register or to change their name or licence conditions.
• Registered DNFBPs and new registrants (from 1 January 2021) will be subject to whichever revised annual fee structure the JFSC ultimately adopts from the three options presented.

Applies to

designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs) registered under the Proceeds of Crime (Supervisory Bodies) (Jersey) Law 2008, persons applying to become registered under the Law on or after 1 January 2021

Deadlines

• 17 December 2020: Deadline for interested parties to submit consultation responses to the JFSC or, for a coordinated industry response, to Jersey Finance (Lisa Springate).
• on or before 1 January: The JFSC intends the final DNFBP fees notice (reflecting the outcome of this consultation) to take effect.
• 1 January 2021: Date from which the proposed new fees would affect newly registered persons under the Law.