PART 6Information and records

“Relevant firm”I124

1

The following are relevant firms for the purposes of regulation 23 (finance: reporting obligations)—

a

a person that has permission under Part 4A of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Permission to carry on regulated activities);

b

an undertaking that by way of business—

i

operates a currency exchange office,

ii

transmits money (or any representation of monetary value) by any means, or

iii

cashes cheques that are made payable to customers;

c

a firm or sole practitioner that is—

i

a statutory auditor within the meaning of Part 42 of the Companies Act 2006 (Statutory Auditors) M1, or

ii

a local auditor within the meaning of section 4(1) of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 (general requirements for audit) M2;

d

a firm or sole practitioner that provides to other persons, by way of business—

i

accountancy services,

ii

legal or notarial services,

iii

advice about tax affairs, or

iv

trust or company services within the meaning of paragraph (2);

e

a firm or sole practitioner that carries out, or whose employees carry out, estate agency work;

f

the holder of a casino operating licence within the meaning given by section 65(2)(a) of the Gambling Act 2005 (nature of licence) M3;

g

a person engaged in the business of making, supplying, selling (including selling by auction) or exchanging—

i

articles made from gold, silver, platinum or palladium, or

ii

precious stones or pearls.

F2h

a cryptoasset exchange provider;

i

a custodian wallet provider.

2

In paragraph (1), “trust or company services” means any of the following services—

a

forming companies or other legal persons;

b

acting, or arranging for another person to act—

i

as a director or secretary of a company,

ii

as a partner of a partnership, or

iii

in a similar capacity in relation to other legal persons;

c

providing a registered office, business address, correspondence or administrative address or other related services for a company, partnership or any other legal person or arrangement;

d

acting, or arranging for another person to act, as—

i

a trustee of an express trust or similar legal arrangement, or

ii

a nominee shareholder for a person.

3

In paragraph (1)—

  • “estate agency work” is to be read in accordance with section 1 of the Estate Agents Act 1979 M4, but as if references in that section to disposing of or acquiring an interest in land included (despite anything in section 2 of that Act) references to disposing of or acquiring an estate or interest in land outside the United Kingdom where that estate or interest is capable of being owned or held as a separate interest;

  • “firm” means any entity that, whether or not a legal person, is not an individual, and includes a body corporate and a partnership or other unincorporated body.

F13A

In paragraph (1), a “cryptoasset exchange provider” means a firm or sole practitioner that by way of business provides one or more of the following services, including where the firm or sole practitioner does so as creator or issuer of any of the cryptoassets involved—

a

exchanging, or arranging or making arrangements with a view to the exchange of, cryptoassets for money or money for cryptoassets,

b

exchanging, or arranging or making arrangements with a view to the exchange of, one cryptoasset for another, or

c

operating a machine which utilises automated processes to exchange cryptoassets for money or money for cryptoassets.

3B

In paragraph (1), a “custodian wallet provider” means a firm or sole practitioner that by way of business provides services to safeguard, or to safeguard and administer—

a

cryptoassets on behalf of its customers, or

b

private cryptographic keys on behalf of its customers in order to hold, store and transfer cryptoassets.

3C

For the purposes of this regulation—

a

“cryptoasset” means a cryptographically secured digital representation of value or contractual rights that uses a form of distributed ledger technology and can be transferred, stored or traded electronically;

b

“money” means—

i

money in sterling,

ii

money in any other currency, or

iii

money in any other medium of exchange,

but does not include a cryptoasset; and

c

in sub-paragraphs (a) to (c) of paragraph (3A), “cryptoasset” includes a right to, or interest in, the cryptoasset.

4

Sub-paragraphs (a) and (b) of paragraph (1) are to be read with section 22 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, any relevant order under that section and Schedule 2 to that Act.

5

For the purposes of regulation 23(1), information or another matter comes to a relevant firm “in the course of carrying on its business” if the information or other matter comes to the firm—

a

in the case of a relevant firm within paragraph (1)(a), in the course of carrying on an activity in respect of which the permission mentioned in that provision is required;

b

in the case of a relevant firm within paragraph (1)(c)(i), in the course of carrying out statutory audit work within the meaning of section 1210 of the Companies Act 2006 (meaning of “statutory auditor” etc.) M5;

c

in the case of a relevant firm within paragraph (1)(c)(ii), in the course of carrying out an audit required by the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014;

d

in the case of a relevant firm within paragraph (1)(f), in the course of carrying on an activity in respect of which the licence mentioned in that provision is required;

e

in the case of a relevant firm within any other provision of paragraph (1), in the course of carrying on an activity mentioned in that provision.