The Financial Services Authority has issued a consultation paper on regulatory fees and levies for advisers in 2013/14, raising the minimum threshold to £100,000.
The paper 'CP12/28 Regulatory fees and levies: policy proposals for 2013/14' informs advisers that the income threshold for paying the minimum regulatory fees will be £100,000.
This would apply to fee blocks A12 advisory arrangers, dealers or brokers holding client money, A13 advisory arrangers, dealers or brokers not holding client money and A14 corporate finance advisers.
Under the current system, firms only pay the minimum fee if they have one or none Appointed Persons. At present, this is about 35 per cent to 43 per cent of firms. With the new £100,000 income threshold, this figure would increase to 38 per cent to 46 per cent of firms.
The FSA expects two thirds of firms currently under the minimum income threshold to remain there.
Firms with lower than average incomes per AP are more likely to see their fees decrease while firms whose income per AP is higher than average will see an increase.
Income per AP may be affected by the target market of the business, size of transactions dealt with and efficiency of individual APs.
The FSA said: "We do not underestimate the concern that large and sudden increases in fees may cause firms, but we believe that the amounts are in absolute terms affordable in relation to their incomes, and that income measure provides a more equitable distribution of costs of regulation."
Responses to the consultation paper will be accepted until 7 January 2013.