My business in unrelated to the financial services industry. Do I still need the FSA’s permission to use any of the sensitive words or expressions for which it grants consent?
Yes. Whilst not requiring authorisation, all firms who seek to use a sensitive word in their business name and for which the FSA is the body that must grant consent, must have prior written consent from us to do so (i.e. we are unable to grant consent automatically without a formal application being submitted to us), regardless of their type of business. For example, even if you are a football club, whose name includes a sensitive word (e.g. Clydebank FC), you will still require our written consent to use the word ‘bank’.
