Review close links for the FCA
See which parties an FCA-authorised firm must report as close links, and keep a dated register of each submission.
Screenshots are retaken from IQ Entities on every release. Updated 14 October 2026.
An FCA-authorised firm has to tell the regulator about its close links: its parents, its subsidiaries, its sister companies, and anyone holding 20% or more of it or held 20% or more by it. In a group, those links change whenever shares move. IQ Entities works them out from the cap table and from any control you have recorded, so the work is checking the result and keeping a record of what was submitted and when.
IQ Entities does not file anything with the FCA. It prepares the determination and records your submission.
Check the determination
Open the firm and choose Close Links under Governance in the sidebar. The page appears for UK entities.
Read The determination. Each close link is listed with the limbs of the test it matches, such as Parent undertaking, Sibling (subsidiary of a parent) or Holds 20%+, the percentages where they can be worked out, and the basis for each row.
If the page warns that something could be hiding a close link, deal with it first. A parent that controls the firm by board appointment rights or a control contract, rather than by a majority of the votes, is invisible until you record it under Recorded control (CA 2006 s.1162) with Record control.
Take a register and record the submission
In Registers, click Take a register. It freezes the close links as they stand today.
The register opens. Download it with Excel, PDF or Submission pack to prepare the return.
Once the firm has submitted the return, click Record submission on the register.
Enter the Reference the firm was given, if any, and the date it was Submitted on, then click Record submission.
Changes since your last submission now measures every later change from this register, so the next return starts from what has moved.
Tips from practice
- A recorded submission cannot be edited or regenerated. Until you record it, a draft register can be taken again with Regenerate.
- Enter the date the firm actually filed in Submitted on, which is often not the day you record it.
- Run this across the group opens the same report for every entity in the group, which is quicker before a group-wide filing round.
Related: Record a person with significant control.