MyComplianceOffice Blog

The FCA wants to see firms operating in this challenging period and are providing some flexibility to regulated firms to ensure continuity. Last week the FCA published an updated statement regarding expectations for solo-regulated firms and this week extended the time limit for obtaining appropriate professional qualifications.

As most employees are now working from home, without a doubt, compliance has become more challenging and regulators expect firms to be prepared to manage the risks and challenges promptly. Compliance Week has run a survey to understand how prepared were compliance professionals and organizations for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mark Steward, Executive Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight at the FCA recently gave a speech on market integrity. In his speech, Mark Steward discussed the importance of firms having a smart market abuse risk assessment to comply with MAR, regulatory challenges and capabilities to detect market abuse.

When it comes to implementing the new Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR), there are key lessons solo-regulated companies can learn from banks and insurers who’ve already done so. That’s according to Lorraine Mouat, associate director at TCC, who highlighted the top five mistakes companies might make in implementing SMCR in a recent Financial Times Adviser  article.  

UK Finance, Britain’s trade association for banks in the country, has published the financial industry’s first major appraisal of the Senior Managers and Certifications Regime(SMCR). The requirements under SMCR were introduced by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in 2016 as part of regulatory reforms following the 2007-09 financial crisis.