2026-04-22
The Prudential Regulation Authority released its Q4 2025/26 Authorisations Performance Report to monitor regulatory decision-making against statutory service standards and transition toward shorter legislative deadlines. The report shows high compliance rates across New Authorisations, Variation of Permission, Cancellations, Change in Control, and Senior Managers Regime applications for deposit-taking and insurance firms. Updating compliance thresholds and targeting less complex cases, the regulator is accelerating approval speeds while maintaining rigorous scrutiny to foster market growth.
Prudential Regulation Authority Authorisations Performance Report 2025/26 – Q4, including annual summary data The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 requires us to make decisions relating to the authorisations processes within set timeframes. In July 2025, the PRA wrote to the Chancellor to set out its commitment to further accelerate the speed of regulatory approvals, while maintaining a robust and proportionate regulatory gateway. The letter supported the Government’s plans to shorten certain deadlines in legislation. The tables below set out the statutory service standards within which we are obliged to make decisions, and our performance against the deadlines for the period from 1 December 2025 to 28 February 2026 (Q4), and cumulative year to date performance for period 1 March 2025 to 28 February 2026. The tables also show our performance measured against the shorter deadlines the Government proposes to legislate for, which the PRA is now targeting. It should be noted that a proportion of cases closed during this reporting period, particularly earlier in the year, were assessed under processes designed around the existing statutory deadlines, before the shorter timelines were confirmed. The figures therefore reflect a period of transition as the PRA moves towards operating consistently against the new standards. In future public performance reports, the PRA intends to move towards primarily reporting against the shorter deadlines.
2 Notes to tables
3 All firms Period: Q4 1 Dec 25 to 28 Feb 26 YTD Period: 1 Mar 25 to 28 Feb 26 Process Relevant Statutory Service Standard 1,2 Cases Closed 2 Time to Close Cases (days) 3,4,5 Cases Closed Time to Close Cases (days) Within Statutory Service Standard Outside of Statutory Service Standard Compliance % Lower Quartile Median Upper Quartile Within Statutory Service Standard YTD Outside of Statutory Service Standard YTD Compliance % YTD Lower Quartile YTD Median YTD Upper Quartile YTD New Authorisations New Target: Within four months of a complete application, or within 10 months of receipt of an incomplete application 2 0 100% - - - 6 3 67% 210 276 319 Old Target: Within six months of a complete application, or within 12 months of receipt of an incomplete application 2 0 100% - - - 9 0 100% 210 276 319 Variation of Permission (Excluding Own Initiative) New Target: Within four months of becoming complete, or 10 months of receipt of an incomplete application 44 0 100% 18 41 102 190 3 98% 19 34 110 Old Target: Within six months of becoming complete, or 12 months of receipt of an incomplete application 44 0 100% 18 41 102 193 0 100% 19 34 110 Cancellations Within six months of becoming complete, or 12 months of receipt of an incomplete application 10 0 100% 49 54 73 40 0 100% 55 102 175 Change in Control 6 Within two working days of making the decision (and in any event no later than within 60 working days of acknowledgement of receipt) 16 0 100% 22 35 40 69 0 100% 23 30 40 Senior Managers Regime (Forms A & E) 7 New Target: Within two months of receipt 271 6 98% 19 28 38 1,050 200 84% 22 36 52 Old Target: Within three months of receipt 277 0 100% 19 28 38 1,250 0 100% 22 36 52 Passporting 8 One month from the receipt of a complete notification, unless an Inward Establishment or Outward Establishment 6 0 100% - 19 - 11 0 100% 18 19 20
4 Deposit-taking firms Period: Q4 1 Dec 25 to 28 Feb 26 YTD Period: 1 Mar 25 to 28 Feb 26 Process Relevant Statutory Service Standard Cases Closed Time to Close Cases (days) Cases Closed Time to Close Cases (days) Within Statutory Service Standard Outside of Statutory Service Standard Compliance % Lower Quartile Median Upper Quartile Within Statutory Service Standard YTD Outside of Statutory Service Standard YTD Compliance % YTD Lower Quartile YTD Median YTD Upper Quartile YTD New Authorisations New Target: Within four months of a complete application, or within 10 months of receipt of an incomplete application 0 0 - - - - 1 1 50% - - - Old Target: Within six months of a complete application, or within 12 months of receipt of an incomplete application 0 0 - - - - 2 0 100% - - - Variation of Permission (Excluding Own Initiative) New Target: Within four months of becoming complete, or 10 months of receipt of an incomplete application 35 0 100% 17 28 81 156 2 99% 17 27 86 Old Target: Within six months of becoming complete, or 12 months of receipt of an incomplete application 35 0 100% 17 28 81 158 0 100% 17 27 86 Cancellations Within six months of becoming complete, or 12 months of receipt of an incomplete application 10 0 100% 49 54 73 22 0 100% 48 60 100 Change in Control Within two working days of making the decision (and in any event no later than within 60 working days of acknowledgement of receipt) 3 0 100% - 25 - 28 0 100% 23 31 41 Senior Managers Regime (Forms A & E) New Target: Within two months of receipt 131 4 97% 20 29 39 513 114 82% 24 38 54 Old Target: Within three months of receipt 135 0 100% 20 29 39 627 0 100% 24 38 54 Passporting One month from the receipt of a complete notification, unless an Inward Establishment or Outward Establishment 0 0 - - - - 2 0 100% - - -
5 Insurance firms Period: Q4 1 Dec 25 to 28 Feb 26 YTD Period: 1 Mar 25 to 28 Feb 26 Process Relevant Statutory Service Standard Cases Closed Time to Close Cases (days) Cases Closed Time to Close Cases (days) Within Statutory Service Standard Outside of Statutory Service Standard Compliance % Lower Quartile Median Upper Quartile Within Statutory Service Standard YTD Outside of Statutory Service Standard YTD Compliance % YTD Lower Quartile YTD Median YTD Upper Quartile YTD New Authorisations New Target: Within four months of a complete application, or within 10 months of receipt of an incomplete application 2 0 100% - - - 5 2 71% - 276 - Old Target: Within six months of a complete application, or within 12 months of receipt of an incomplete application 2 0 100% - - - 7 0 100% - 276 - Variation of Permission (Excluding Own Initiative) New Target: Within four months of becoming complete, or 10 months of receipt of an incomplete application 9 0 100% 74 142 187 34 1 97% 47 92 164 Old Target: Within six months of becoming complete, or 12 months of receipt of an incomplete application 9 0 100% 74 142 187 35 0 100% 47 92 164 Cancellations Within six months of becoming complete, or 12 months of receipt of an incomplete application 0 0 - - - - 18 0 100% 116 170 215 Change in Control Within two working days of making the decision (and in any event no later than within 60 working days of acknowledgement of receipt) 13 0 100% 25 36 40 41 0 100% 23 28 40 Senior Managers Regime (Forms A & E) New Target: Within two months of receipt 140 2 99% 17 26 38 537 86 86% 21 33 49 Old Target: Within three months of receipt 142 0 100% 17 26 38 623 0 100% 21 33 49 Passporting One month from the receipt of a complete notification, unless an Inward Establishment or Outward Establishment 6 0 100% - 19 - 9 0 100% 18 19 20
6 Applications – refusals and withdrawals The table below shows the number of applications that were refused or withdrawn during the period of 1st March 2025 to 28 th February 2026. Process Firm type/sector Total number of cases closed Of which were refusals Of which were withdrawals New Firm Authorisation Deposit Taking Firms 2 0 1 New Firm Authorisation Insurance Firms 7 0 0 Senior Managers Regime Deposit Taking Firms 627 0 17 Senior Managers Regime Insurance Firms 623 0 14 Refusal reasons n/a
7 Number of new and cancelled firms from the UK market The table below shows the number of firms the PRA authorised and cancelled from the UK market during the period of 1st March 2025 to 28 th February 2026. Process Firm type/sector Total number of firms New Firm Authorisation Deposit Taking Firms 1 New Firm Authorisation Insurance Firms 7 TOTAL 8 Cancellations Deposit Taking Firms 22 Cancellations Insurance Firms 18 TOTAL 40
8 Number of new domestic vs overseas firms authorised The table below shows a breakdown of the number of new firms authorised into the UK market during the period of 1st March 2025 to 28 th February 2026. Firm category Total number of new firms Of the new firms, how many are UK firms/groups Of the new firms, how many are UK subsidiaries (part of an overseas group) Of the new firms, how many are UK branches of an overseas firm Deposit taking firms 1 1 Insurance firms 7 2 3 2 TOTAL 8
9 Additional metrics In the July 2025 letter, the PRA also committed to additional stretching targets to show where we intend to go faster than the legislative deadlines, particularly for less complex applications. The table below shows our performance against these targets for the period of 1st March 2025 to 28 th February 2026. Target Total number of cases % where target was met 3 months for complete applications from insurance firms that qualify for the wholesale insurance accelerated authorisation pathway 1 100% 6 weeks for complete applications from insurance special purpose vehicles (ISPVs) 0 - 10 working days for complete applications from ISPVs that qualify for an accelerated pathway 0 - At least 50% of Senior Managers Regime cases to be completed within 45 days 1,250 66%