NOTICE OF DECISION

To:
FINTRY MOTORS LTD (previously known as Livingstone Cars
Ltd)

ACTION

1.
The Authority has decided to cancel the Firm’s Part 4A permission.

2.
The Authority has taken this action because, based on the facts and matters set out
below, it considers that the Firm is carrying on no regulated activity to which the
Firm’s Part 4A permission relates.

3.
The cancellation takes effect on 11 January 2024. The effect of the cancellation is
that the Firm no longer has permission to carry on any regulated activities.

DEFINITIONS

4.
The definitions below are used in this Notice of Decision (and in the Annex):

“the Act” means the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000;

“the Authority” means the Financial Conduct Authority;

“EG” means the Enforcement Guide;

“the Firm” means Fintry Motors Ltd, previously known as Livingstone Motors Ltd;

“the Firm’s Part 4A permission” means the Part 4A permission granted by the
Authority to the Firm;

“the Further Notice” means the further notice issued by the Authority to the Firm
dated 29 November 2023;

“the Handbook” means the Authority’s Handbook of rules and guidance;

“the Notice” means the notice issued by the Authority to the Firm dated 9 November
2023;

“Part 4A permission” means permission to conduct regulated activities, granted by
the Authority under Part 4A of the Act;

“RAG” means regulated activity group as referred to in SUP;

“the Returns” means the CCR007 for the period ended 30 September 2022 which
the Firm
was due to submit to the Authority by 11 November 2022;

“SUP” means the Supervision Manual, part of the Handbook; and

“the Tribunal” means the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber).

FACTS AND MATTERS

5.
The Firm was authorised by the Authority on 19 September 2018 and has a Part 4A
permission to conduct the following regulated activities in relation to consumer credit
business:

(a)
agreeing to carry on a regulated activity; and

(b)
credit broking.

6.
Information submitted to the Authority by the Firm in regulatory returns for the
period 1 January 2019 to 30 September 2021 shows that the Firm is not carrying on
any regulated activities for which it holds a Part 4A permission.

7.
Additionally, the Firm is required to submit the Returns to the Authority by the
relevant due date in accordance with the following rules contained in SUP: SUP
16.3.11R, SUP 16.3.13R, SUP 16.12.3R, SUP 16.12.4R and SUP 16.12.29CR.
However, the Firm has failed to submit the Returns to the Authority. The Authority
therefore considers that the Firm has failed to provide information to the Authority
as is required by the Handbook, namely the information it is required to provide in
the Returns.

8.
On 9 November 2023, the Authority gave the Firm the Notice which stated that:

(a)
it appears to the Authority that the Firm is carrying on no regulated activity to
which its Part 4A permission relates; and

(b)
the Authority may take action to cancel the Firm’s Part 4A permission unless it
responds to the Notice in the manner specified in the directions to the Notice.

9.
The Firm failed to respond in the manner specified in the directions to the Notice.

10.
As a result of the matters specified above, on 29 November 2023, the Authority gave
the Firm the Further Notice which stated that:

a) the Authority considered that the Firm is carrying on no regulated activity to

which its Part 4A permission relates; and

b) the Authority proposes to cancel the Firm’s Part 4A permission on 11 January

2024 unless the Firm takes the steps specified in the directions to the Further
Notice.

11.
The Firm failed to take the steps specified in the Further Notice.

CANCELLATION OF PART 4A PERMISSION

12.
From the facts and matters described above, and having regard to paragraph 1(3)
of Schedule 6A to the Act, the Authority considers that the Firm is carrying on no
regulated activity to which its Part 4A permission relates. The Authority has therefore
decided to cancel the Firm’s Part 4A permission. The cancellation of the Firm’s Part
4A permission takes effect on the date of this Notice of Decision.

13.
The statutory and regulatory provisions relevant to this Notice of Decision are set
out in the Annexes.

PROCEDURAL MATTERS

14.
This Notice of Decision is given to the Firm under paragraph 3 of Schedule 6A to the
Act (variation or cancellation of Part 4A permission on initiative of FCA: additional
power).

The following paragraphs are important.

Annulment of the Authority’s decision

15.
If the Firm is aggrieved by the decision to cancel its Part 4A permission as set out in
this Notice of Decision, the Firm may make an application for an annulment of the
Authority’s decision under paragraph 4 of Schedule 6A to the Act.

16.
The Firm must submit a completed application for an annulment of the Authority’s
decision to the Authority by 10 January 2025 and in the manner specified by the
Authority.

The Tribunal

17.
The Firm does not have a right to refer the decision to give this Notice of Decision to
the Tribunal.

18.
The Authority intends to publish such information about the matter to which this
Notice of Decision relates as the Authority considers appropriate. The information
may be published in such manner as the Authority considers appropriate.
Authority Contact

19.
For more information concerning this matter generally, the Firm should contact
Mellisa Spence (direct line: 020 7066 1762).

Angela Curtis
Enforcement and Market Oversight Division

ANNEX ON CANCELLATION OF PART 4A PERMISSION ON INITIATIVE OF FCA:
ADDITIONAL POWER

RELEVANT STATUTORY PROVISIONS

1.
The Authority’s operational objectives established in section 1B of the Act include
protecting and enhancing the integrity of the UK financial system and securing an
appropriate degree of protection for consumers.

2.
The Authority is authorised by paragraphs 1(1) and (2) of Schedule 6A to the Act to
cancel an Authority-authorised person’s Part 4A permission, if it appears to the
Authority that the Authority-authorised person is carrying on no regulated activity to
which the permission relates.

3.
Paragraph 1(3) of Schedule 6A of the Act provides that the circumstances in which
the Authority may form the view that an Authority-authorised person is carrying on
no regulated activity include (but are not limited to) circumstances where the person
fails—

(b) to provide such information to the Authority as is required by the Handbook.

4.
The Authority must exercise its power to cancel an Authority-authorised person’s
Part 4A permission using its additional own initiative power in accordance with the
procedure set out in paragraph 2 of Schedule 6A to the Act.

RELEVANT HANDBOOK PROVISIONS

5.
In exercising its power to cancel an Authority-authorised person’s Part 4A
permission, the Authority must have regard to the regulatory requirements and
guidance published in the Handbook and in regulatory guides, such as EG. The main
considerations relevant to the action stated in this Notice of Decision are set out
below.

Relevant Rules

13.
SUP 16.3.11R requires that:

“A firm must submit reports required under this chapter to the [Authority] containing
all the information required.”

14.
SUP 16.3.13R(1) requires that:

“A firm must submit a report required by this chapter in the frequency, and so as to
be received by the [Authority] no later than the due date, specified for that report.”

15.
SUP 16.3.13R(4) states that:

“If the due date for submission of a report required by this chapter is a set period of
time after the end of a half-year, a quarter, or a month, the dates will be determined
by (a) or (b) below except where otherwise indicated:

(a) the firm's accounting reference date;

(b) monthly, 3 monthly or 6 months after the firm's accounting reference date, as

the case may be.”

16.
The Firm falls within RAG 12. A firm’s RAG dictates specific reporting requirements
for that firm, based on regulated activities which the firm has permission to carry on
and arise from the rules contained in SUP, which stipulates the data item or
regulatory report, frequency and the date by which the relevant data item or
regulatory report is required to be submitted. The reporting requirements relevant
to the Firm are set out in the rules specified in paragraph 7 of this Notice of Decision.

Guidance concerning the use of the Authority’s additional power to cancel
an authorised firm’s Part 4A permission on its own initiative

17.
Guidance on the use of the Authority’s power to cancel an Authority-authorised
person’s Part 4A permissions on its own initiative under Schedule 6A to the Act is set
out in SUP and EG.

18.
EG 8.5.2A states that the Authority may cancel the Part 4A permission of a firm that
is an Authority-authorised person, under Schedule 6A of the Act, if:

(1)
it appears to the Authority that the firm is carrying on no regulated activity
to which the permission relates; and

(2)
the firm has failed to respond as directed by the Authority to notices served
by the Authority to the firm under paragraph 2 of Schedule 6A.

19.
EG 8.5.2A also states that Schedule 6A specifies that the Authority may form the
view that a firm is carrying on no such regulated activity on the basis of its failure to
pay a periodic fee or levy or provide information to the Authority, in each case as
required by the Handbook.

20.
SUP sets out further guidance on the Authority’s power under Schedule 6A of the
Act. In particular, SUP 7.2.2AG states that the Authority may decide to cancel an
Authority-authorised person’s Part 4A permission using its powers under Schedule
6A of the Act:

(1)
if that person appears to the Authority not to be carrying on any regulated
activity to which the permission relates, including, without restriction, if the
person has failed to:

(b)
provide the Authority with information required under the Handbook;
and

(2)
if that person, when served by the Authority with two notices under
paragraph 2 of Schedule 6A of the Act, has not:

(a)
responded in the manner directed, in those notices or otherwise, by
the Authority; nor

(b)
taken other steps as may also be directed by the Authority;

the second of which notices will specify the effective date of the proposed
cancellation.

21.
SUP 7.2.2CG states that, apart from the circumstances described in SUP 7.2.2AG(1),
the Authority may also form the view, under Schedule 6A of the Act, that a firm is
no longer conducting any regulated activity to which its permission relates in light
of, without restriction:

(1) one or more reports, provided to the Authority by the firm, under SUP 16

or otherwise, indicating that it is no longer doing so.

22.
SUP 7.2.2DG states that:

(1) the Authority’s additional own-initiative variation power under Schedule 6A

to the Act (which includes the power to cancel the Part 4A permission of
an Authority-authorised firm under Schedule 6A of the Act and references
to “additional own-initiative variation power in the remainder of this Notice
of Decision should be read as such) has, unlike the Authority’s own-
initiative variation power under section 55J of the Act, a single basis: that
it appears to the Authority that the relevant Authority-authorised person
is not carrying on any regulated activity to which its Part 4A permission
relates.

(2) if the Authority uses its additional own-initiative variation power, it is

therefore more likely to cancel the relevant firm’s Part 4A permission,
rather than merely varying it by removing or amending the description of
one or more such activities or by imposing one or more limitations.

(3) the Authority will, however, consider all relevant facts and circumstances,

including, without restriction:

(a) the relevant firm’s responses, if any, to the notices given by the

Authority under paragraph 2 of Schedule 6A; and

(b) if applicable, the factors described in SUP 6.4.22G, including whether

there are any matters relating to the firm requiring investigation,

before deciding whether to use its additional own-initiative variation power and
whether to use it to cancel or vary.

23.
SUP 7.2.7G(1) states that a firm has no right of referral to the Tribunal in respect of
the Authority exercising its additional own-initiative variation power, under Schedule
6A to the Act, on the Authority-authorised firm’s Part 4A permission.