Financial Services and Markets Act 2000

Financial Services and Markets Act 2000

2000 CHAPTER 8

Commentary on Sections

Part Xii: Control Over Authorised Persons

Section 179: Acquiring control

354. This section defines the circumstances in which a person acquires control and is therefore subject to the obligation to notify the Authority under section 178(1)(a) or (b).

355. A person may acquire control either directly via a shareholding or voting power in the UK authorised person itself, or indirectly via a shareholding or voting power in a parent of the UK authorised person.  This is required by the single market directives.

356. Subsection (3) provides that for the purposes of determining whether a person has acquired control, the percentage shareholding or voting power is aggregated with that of their associates as defined in section 422.  This means, for example, that where a firm has a holding of 5 per cent of the shares in a UK authorised person and one of its subsidiaries has a holding of 7 per cent of the shares in the same UK authorised person, the firm will be required to notify the Authority.

357. Subsection (4) sets out what constitutes a “kind” of control.  A person who has control of one kind would be required under section 178 to notify the Authority again were they to acquire control of a different kind either as well as, or instead of, the control they had before.