Mind the gap

While a relatively low number of brokers have applied to the FSA for direct authorisation, Branko Bjelobaba examines the steps many now need to take to ensure future credibility

As of 31 March 2004, Sarah Wilson, director of high-street firms at the Financial Services Authority, confirmed that it had received a total of 13 210 registrations for application packs, of which 5945 were from firms in the mortgage market and 7265 were from general insurance firms. It also received 4229 applications for authorisation, of which around 80% were received electronically. As a very high proportion of these applications arrived at the end of March, not all had been categorised - yet