Get Authorised

Do it yourself

• Learn the shape at a signposting level only: purely commercial lending to limited companies (business loans, asset finance, invoice finance, commercial mortgages, development finance to a company) is largely outside the FCA’s regulated perimeter, while specific edges are regulated, namely consumer buy-to-let, regulated mortgage contracts, some bridging, and credit broking for individuals, sole traders and small partnerships.
• Map your intended product set and client type against those edges. Many "commercial" clients are sole traders, which can pull you into regulated credit broking.
• Take that map to the party who owns the answer, a network or principal, a compliance consultant, or the FCA, and let them confirm which permissions you need.
• Record their determination, because it drives everything downstream.

Do it yourself

• Appointed Representative: operate under a principal or network’s permissions. Faster to start and a lighter compliance load, in exchange for less independence and ongoing network fees.
• Directly authorised: your own FCA authorisation. More control and credibility, against a substantial cost and administrative burden, and you own compliance.
• Or neither, if the owner in Station 1 confirms your mix is genuinely unregulated.
• Note the clock honestly: a DA application runs on the FCA’s timetable and AR onboarding on the network’s, weeks to months, their clock not yours.
• Get costs from at least two networks and price a DA route. FCA application fees are category-dependent, indicative low hundreds to low thousands; confirm on the FCA fees calculator.
• Decide with your compliance adviser and start the application early, so the third-party clock begins.

Do it yourself

• List the lenders and products you need for your niche.
• Identify the routes to reach them: your network’s panel, a packager or master broker who holds the lender relationship, an aggregator or sourcing platform, or the NACFB and FIBA lender panels.
• Apply and onboard, noting each lender or panel runs its own onboarding checks on their clock.
• Keep a live panel register of who you are on, their appetite, and contacts.

Do it yourself

• The NACFB is the largest general commercial-finance broker body (around 1,400 broker member firms), with the NACFB Mutual PII facility, a compliance and assurance process, and a public broker directory.
• FIBA is strong on specialist property finance (bridging, development, buy-to-let), with a compliance hub and helpline, the FIBA PI facility, the FIBA Academy, and lender panels.
• Prepare what they ask for: your FCA reference number and permissions, or if AR your AR agreement and your principal’s FCA details, plus PII and your ICO data-protection number.
• Complete the body’s onboarding on their clock, and join one or both depending on how property-heavy your niche is.

Do it yourself

• Confirm with your network or compliance whether your mix requires a regulated-mortgage qualification. CeMAP, the LIBF Level 3 qualification, is the standard for regulated mortgage advice and covers buy-to-let and consumer buy-to-let.
• Note that CeMAP is mid-transition: CeMAP 1 is replaced by FSRE (Financial Services Regulation and Ethics) under a new structure launched in late 2025, so do not treat the old three-module CeMAP as current.
• For specialist commercial or property work, consider the CPSP (Certified Practitioner in Specialist Property Finance), a Level 3 qualification run by FIBA with the BDLA and LIBF.
• Log which qualification, if any, your route requires and your study plan, but let the network or body confirm the requirement.