Browse all articles across people aspects of regulation and people development within UK financial services
By Martin Schofield, Director, MSA (Training & Consultancy) Ltd and Vivek Dodd, Chief Operating Officer, Skillcast Although the financial crisis of 2008 and the financial scandals in the past decade can be traced back to failure at several levels, the UK Government pinned the responsibility largely onto the banks and set up the Parliamentary Commission…
On 5 August 2019, the FCA published its ‘Senior Managers and Certification Regime Banking Stocktake Report’.
From 1st October last year firms who undertake insurance activities in relation to insurance based products (IBIPs) which include bonds, pure protection, general insurance activities, as well as insured pension contracts are, under FCA Requirements, required to include in their T&C Scheme the need to undertake a minimum of fifteen hours professional training or development…
The SMCR (Senior Managers & Certification Regime) has been in place for dual-regulated firms now since March 2016 and rolls out to all FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) solo-regulated firms from December of this year.
In the April edition of T-CNews, I wrote about the regulatory and economic changes that were affecting the financial services industry and the subtle, but important, impact this was having for software suppliers to the sector.
We’re seeing a range of businesses offering courses and consultancy around the Senior Managers and Certification Regime. My view is that for larger organisations this may well be helpful but for most firms, if they are already reasonably well organised, there shouldn’t be a great deal to change.
What’s good for the sell-side is good for the buy-side explains Andy Bennett, Head of Regulatory Training at Fitch Learning. As we know, the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR) was introduced in the UK for the banks in 2016 as a regulatory response to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards.
All firms T&C Schemes uses Key Performance Indicators to measure how its employees are performing against set business objectives. In the Financial Services industry that also includes measuring compliance with set regulatory requirements as well. But ask yourself this: How relevant are these Key Performance Indicators for the firm today?
To paraphrase the famous quote from Donald Rumsfeld (Feb 12, 2002)….. “…as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know.
I occasionally still hear the idea that 90% of investment returns are due to asset allocation – generally from those who promote passive investment strategies. William Sharp devised the ‘Efficient Market Hypothesis’ to argue that share prices reflect available information and expectations.
Today, 10 December 2018 marks the start of the Certification Regime for Insurers. Banks and Building Societies and other ‘Relevant Authorised Persons’ have been subject to this regime since March 2016. Other firms categorised as Enhanced, Core or Limited Scope (essentially FCA single regulated firms) will be subject to this same regime from December 2019.
Like many of you reading this, I have been doing the rounds at several SMCR events focused on the extension of the Senior Managers and Certification Regimes of late and have picked up (as well as delivered) some useful insights into the good and the bad experiences across the banking sector and the similarities or otherwise…
