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Licence Due Diligence — Buyer-Side Regulatory Assessment

Comprehensive due diligence on FCA-regulated businesses before acquisition. Protect your investment with expert regulatory assessment.

Protect Your Investment With Expert Due Diligence

Before acquiring any regulated entity — whether a payment institution, e-money institution, investment firm, or other FCA-authorised business — conducting thorough Licence Due Diligence is essential to protect your investment and avoid inheriting undisclosed regulatory liabilities.

Acumen Global Compliance provides specialist Licence Due Diligence services for acquirers in the financial services sector, covering a comprehensive review of the target’s FCA authorisation and permission scope, regulatory correspondence and enforcement history, AML/CTF compliance framework and CDD records, safeguarding or client money arrangements, outstanding regulatory gaps or remediations, SMCR accountability mapping, financial promotions history, and compliance with key regulatory obligations. Our due diligence report gives you a clear-eyed assessment of the regulatory risk you are taking on — enabling you to negotiate appropriate representations and warranties, price regulatory risk into your offer, or walk away from transactions that carry unacceptable compliance exposure.

Key Facts

Who needs this

Anyone considering acquiring an FCA-regulated business

Requirement

Due diligence supports FCA CIC application

Timeline

2–4 weeks

Price from

POA — based on target complexity

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    Get Due Diligence Done

    Our Due Diligence Process

    Regulatory Review

    Review FCA register status, permissions, conditions, and any regulatory actions.

    Compliance Assessment

    Assess the quality and completeness of the firm's compliance framework.

    AML Review

    Review AML policies, risk assessments, CDD records, and training records.

    Financial Review

    Assess capital adequacy, safeguarding arrangements, and financial position.

    Key Individual Assessment

    Review fitness and propriety of key individuals and proposed controllers.

    Risk Report

    Deliver comprehensive risk report with recommendations and cost estimates.

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    What's Included

    FCA register review

    Compliance framework assessment

    CDD file sample review

    Capital adequacy review

    Risk report with RAG ratings

    Regulatory correspondence review

    AML policy review

    Safeguarding assessment

    Key individual assessment

    Post-acquisition cost estimate

    FAQs

    Frequently Asked Questions

    To identify hidden risks — outstanding FCA actions, poor compliance, inadequate safeguarding, or AML failures that could cost you significantly post-acquisition.
    FCA status, regulatory history, compliance framework, AML policies, CDD quality, safeguarding, capital, key individuals, and operational risks.
    Typically 2–4 weeks depending on the complexity of the target business and access to documentation.
    We quantify the risk and estimate remediation costs. This helps you negotiate price or decide whether to proceed.
    We also provide seller-side due diligence (vendor due diligence) to help sellers identify and fix issues before going to market.
    Yes. A comprehensive due diligence report with findings, risk ratings, and specific recommendations.

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    Related Services

    Buy SPI Licence

    Acquire a Small Payment Institution.

    FCA Change in Control

    CIC application management.

    Post-acquisition Setup

    Post-acquisition compliance setup.

    Ready to Get Started?

    Book a free consultation to discuss your compliance needs with our specialist team.

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