Surrender of Licences

Before applying to Surrender the Licence of your Firm/Individual Licence, the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (‘GFSC’) expects for Firms/Individuals to: 

• Inform clients that the Firm/Individual will be requesting to Surrender their Licence.
• Have submitted all outstanding Regulatory Returns and Audited Financial Statements [if applicable].
• Settled any outstanding Regulatory Fees.
• Resolved all Complaints against the Firm/Individual.
• Arranged suitable arrangements to deal with any Complaints and Liabilities that might arise

The above should be completed prior to requesting a Surrender of Licence. Please note if the average timescale to Surrender a Licence is within three months, please engage with the GFSC as soon as possible. Please send any enquires and requests to Surrender a Licence to: authorisations@fsc.gi  - with the name of the Firm/Individual as the Subject Heading.

 The following information and documentation will be expected to be received in order for the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission to process a Surrender of Licence:

• Reason for Surrendering.
• Written confirmation that the Firm/Individual wishes to Surrender their Authorisation.
• Director’s undertaking confirming that no licensable activity is being conducted.
• Confirmation that all Complaints have been satisfactorily resolved.
• Board Minutes/Resolution confirming the decision to Surrender the Authorisation [if applicable].
• Auditor's confirmation that no licensable activity is being conducted [if applicable].
• Confirmation that the Firm is no longer providing services in another EEA State for which it is passported [if applicable].
• Confirmation that the Firm will be ceasing to exist or that it has changed its Name [if applicable].
• A Letter from the Firm confirming the details of arrangements being done for its client(s) and the expected time frame for this [if applicable].

Subject to the Type of Authorisation, there may be other additional requirements. Please contact the Authorisations Team for further information at authorisations@fsc.gi.

Recommended Wording for Auditor's Confirmation: 

Termination of Licensable Activities

We are the duly appointed auditors of [Name of Firm] (“the Firm”) which is licensed under the [insert Act] (“the Act”) as a [insert Category/Type of Authorisation].

In light of the intention of the Firm to surrender its authorisation under the Act, we hereby confirm the following:

• we have reviewed the books and records of the Firm and, based on this review, nothing has come to our attention to indicate that the Firm is undertaking any activity which would be licensable under the Act  with effect from close of business on [insert date];
• there are no remaining liabilities to clients which would be licensable under the Act  with effect from close of business on [insert date]; and 
• nothing has come to our attention during our review that would indicate that the Firm continues to carry out an activity which would be licensable under the Act.