For mortgage lenders + broker networks
Mortgage broker FCA authorisation check
Brokers move on, change firms, lose permissions. A lender's panel-management workflow runs on annual reviews but reality moves faster: a broker's authorisation can change between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning. Manual register checks at panel renewal don't catch the in-year drift, and discovering it via a customer complaint is the worst possible time. The FCA Verification API drops into your broker-CRM as a single call per application: live FCA Register status + permissions matrix + AR/principal mapping + SM&CR Directory cross-check on the named broker.
What you check on every application
Each application carries a real-time call to /v1/fca/firms/{frn} returning: authorisation status (Authorised / Withdrawn / Cancelled / In Default), permissions matrix mapped to FCA Handbook references (Mortgage mediation, Insurance distribution, etc), key individuals (CF/SMF holders), AR/principal mapping if applicable, and the FCA Register list-version timestamp. Pair with /v1/fca/sm-cr/{frn}/directory to verify the named broker is still a Certified Person at the firm. The SM&CR Directory cross-check is the load-bearing piece for in-life broker integrity.
Daily-poll the panel for in-life drift
Most lenders' panel-management software polls FCA Connect quarterly + assumes the data holds for 90 days. That's a 90-day window where a de-authorised broker keeps writing applications. The bulk endpoint (/v1/fca/firms/bulk, up to 100 FRNs per call) lets you re-screen the entire panel daily at the 1000-pack rate (~£0.59 per check). At 200 brokers that's £118/month — well under the cost of investigating one fraudulent application.
Per-application + monitoring economics
Per-application cost: £0.99 at the 100-pack rate. Daily-poll on a 200-broker panel: ~£118/month at 1000-pack. SmartSearch's broker module starts at £400-600/mo subscription minimum. Stratum's per-check pricing is right-sized for the lender's actual workload and scales with panel size + application volume rather than against a vendor's revenue target.
Frequently asked
Can I batch-check the whole panel daily?
Yes. POST /v1/fca/firms/bulk with up to 100 FRNs per call. Pricing scales with the volume bands — at 1000-pack (£0.59/check) a 200-broker panel polled daily costs ~£118/month.
Does this check the named broker, not just the firm?
The firm-level call returns the firm's status + permissions. To verify the named broker is a Certified Person at that firm, pair with the SM&CR Directory endpoint at /v1/fca/sm-cr/{frn}/directory. The cross-check is the load-bearing piece for in-life broker integrity.
How fast does the API surface a permission change?
The FCA Register API is live; we cache for 60 seconds to absorb burst patterns. Pass `?fresh=1` to bypass. The Register itself updates within ~24 hours of a permission change at FCA.
Does this catch ARs whose principal lost authorisation?
Yes. The AR/principal mapping is in the response; if the principal is Withdrawn / Cancelled, the AR inherits that status. The response carries the principal-FRN + the relationship type so your CRM can flag.
How do you compare to FCA Connect screen-scraping?
FCA Connect is for human use; screen-scraping it for compliance workflows is brittle (DOM changes break it) and slow (page-render latency adds 2-4s). Our API is REST + JSON + sub-200ms p95.