About Central Authorisations

Who are we?

The Central Authorisations Unit (CAU) is responsible for assessing and determining all applications from individuals and entities seeking to conduct financial services business in Jersey. The team also manages all voluntary revocation and cessation activity, as well as a significant volume of fund maintenance tasks throughout the regulatory lifecycle.

We operate within defined service level agreements (SLAs) and apply a risk-based approach to ensure consistent, high-quality outcomes.

Our team

The CAU is made up of 13 dedicated professionals. In response to increasing application volumes and growing regulatory activity, the team was expanded in 2021 to enhance our capacity and responsiveness.

An independent review of the JFSC’s authorisation processes, published in February 2021, recognised the team’s robust and pragmatic approach to decision-making and highlighted several good practices already in place. It also recommended enhancements to align our processes with international best practice. In response, the CAU contributed to the design and implementation of a revised authorisation framework, ensuring our processes remain effective, transparent, and in line with global regulatory expectations.

Urgent matters

If you are submitting an urgent application or request, please contact us in advance at Authorisations@jerseyfsc.org.

For applications already submitted via myJFSC, please use the chat function to notify us of the urgency. This allows us to prioritise appropriately and respond in a timely manner.

Innovative proposals

We encourage early engagement for innovative or complex proposals. If you are planning to submit a novel business model or structure, please contact the Authorisations team in advance at Authorisations@jerseyfsc.org.

This helps us understand your proposal and provide guidance to support a smooth and efficient assessment process.

Help with your application

Following the implementation of our revised authorisation framework, the CAU has developed guidance to help applicants when submitting their applications. This includes examples of best practice and highlights common areas for improvement observed across submissions.

To support the processing of your application, please refer to our guidance on How to make your application efficient for quick approval.