Information for Goodstanding Letter Requests
What is a goodstanding letter?
A goodstanding letter gives information to another regulator about a firm or individual who is, or has been, regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). We can only provide one if another regulator asks the PRA directly. It must be confidential between regulators and cannot be shared with third parties (for example, the subject of the request).
Before making your request
Check if the firm or individual has been authorised, registered or approved by us.
Find this information on the Financial Services Register.
We only provide information in relation to firms and individuals that have been PRA authorised or approved.
We have no information if:
- The firm is not regulated by the PRA. To check this, click on the ‘Who is this firm connected to’ option underneath the ‘Contents’ section on the Financial Services Register. If there is more than one option, select ‘Regulators’. If the PRA is not listed here, we do not authorise the firm.
- The individual has not worked for a PRA authorised firm. You can access firm details by clicking on the name(s) of the firm(s) to which the individual is linked where firm names are underlined. The previous bullet point explains how to check if a firm is regulated by the PRA.
- The individual has worked at a PRA-authorised firm but ceased their role before 1 April 2013.
- The individual has only carried out Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)-led roles. These are set out below:
- An [FCA CF] role
- SMF3
- SMF13
- SMF15
- SMF16
- SMF17
- SMF18
Please let us know if you believe the subject of your enquiry is a controller. Controllers are not on the register, as only firms carrying out regulated activities and individuals performing a role under the Senior Managers and Certification Regime are on it. See Part XII and section 422 of FSMA for the meaning of 'controller'.
Submitting a request
Please send a separate request for each subject – we are no longer able to accept multiple subjects within one email.
We need to ensure the request is valid. When submitting the request, please include a complete checklist together with supplementary information for the firm or individual you are asking about with the following details:
- Firm or individual reference number so we can find the correct details quickly. You can find reference numbers on our Financial Services Register.
- A firm’s reference number is a six or seven digit reference comprising numbers only.
- An individual’s reference number is an eight digit reference that starts with three letters then has five numbers.
- Details if we have published a notice. (It may help you if you are aware there may be adverse information on the subject of the request)
- Dates of birth for individuals, together with any other names you have for them. For information about how we use personal data, please see our privacy notice.
- Date you need an answer if this is inside our response time of 20 business days.
- The consequences of not meeting your deadline if your request is urgent.
- If the firm/individual is not on the register, why you still need a goodstanding letter.
- If you have confirmed that the firm is PRA authorised or the individual is approved and you have completed the checklist, please attach it to your request together with supporting documentation and email it to: PRAGoodstanding.Letters@bankofengland.co.uk
You must treat goodstanding letters from us as confidential.
If you want to discuss your request over the telephone, you can ring us on + 44 20 3461 7000 between 10am and 12 noon Monday to Friday.
