Become an introducer appointed representative

An introducer appointed representative is an appointed representative with a deliberately narrow appointment. You are limited to effecting introductions to your principal, and to distributing non-real-time financial promotions your principal has approved. That is the whole scope.

• ✓ You introduce the customer. We do the rest.
• ✓ You can hand over or display approved finance material.
• ✓ You cannot discuss the products, recommend one, or arrange the finance.
• ✓ Your firm appears on the FCA Register as an IAR of your principal.

It suits you if finance is something you want handled rather than something you want to run. It does not suit you if your sales process depends on your own people talking finance through with the customer — that is a step beyond introducing, and it needs full AR status instead.

Plenty of dealers start here and move to a full appointment later once they know how much finance business they are actually writing. Going the other way is easier than going back.

• ✓ Dealers who would rather not run a finance desk at all.
• ✓ Smaller forecourts where one person is doing everything already.
• ✓ Vehicle sourcing and brokerage businesses.
• ✓ Garages and body shops whose customers need funding for a repair or a replacement.
• ✓ Anyone testing whether finance is worth building a process around.

As principal we take regulatory responsibility for the introductions made under the appointment, which means the obligations are lighter than a full AR arrangement but they are not absent.

• ✓ We approve the material you are allowed to use — and you use only that.
• ✓ We train your people on where the boundary sits, which is the part that matters here.
• ✓ We handle the customer conversation, the application and the lender relationship.
• ✓ You keep a record of the introductions you make.
• ✓ Complaints come to us rather than being handled on the forecourt.

1. A conversation about your business and how finance currently comes up in it.
2. Due diligence — lighter than a full appointment, but not skipped.
3. We agree scope and terms in writing.
4. FCA notification and registration.
5. Boundary training for anyone who talks to customers.
6. You start introducing.

This page is general information about introducer appointed representative status, not regulatory advice, and it is not an offer of appointment. Commercial terms and the exact scope are confirmed in writing beforehand, and you should take your own advice on anything you are unsure about.