Institute and Faculty of Actuaries as a designated professional body
The Financial Services & Markets Act 2000, which governs all financial services in the UK, has a provision to allow some professional organisations to act as a designated professional body (DPB). The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries is one of those organisations. This allows actuarial firms to carry out some exempt regulated activities without being authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) if they apply for a DPB licence from the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and meet certain conditions.
What do firms licensed by the DPB do?
A DPB licensed firm can provide advice on investments and general insurance to business clients only, where the business is incidental to providing actuarial advice. This will include advising trustees of pensions schemes and employers. Firms can only provide investment advice to individuals if they are also authorised by the FCA.
You can view an example list of the activities that can be undertaken by DPB licensed firms here.
You can view a list of DPB licensed firms here.
Aims of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries DPB
The DPB sets and amends the handbook, issues guidance, grants licences and deals with any complaints about firms acting under a DPB licence.