Under the handbook the FSA expects a firm to reach certain standards before it will be considered for authorisation, abide by certain principals in its business dealings and have in place certain management controls and systems to proactively manage risks.
These rules and objectives are listed in the handbook manuals which have the references COND, SYSC andPRIN.
The FSA regards certain positions in the firm as positions of accountability and those holding those positions must be approved by the FSA in their own right. These rules are listed in the handbook manuals which have the references APER and FIT.