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FCA Authorisations
Preparing an FCA application can be quite daunting as there is a significant amount of information that the FCA requires. It’s also important to get it right first time. The FCA will make a decision on firm applications within 6 months but, if an application is incomplete, they can extend this by up to 12 months by law
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With pressure from funders and shareholders it is essential to get your business up and running as soon as possible and to get the right senior people doing their jobs as quickly as possible. So, it is absolutely critical to get an FCA application right first time​
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FCA Variation of Permissions
Preparing any FCA application can be quite daunting as there is a significant amount of information that the FCA requires. It’s also important to get it right first time. The FCA will make a decision on firm applications within 6 months but, if an application is incomplete, they can extend this by up to 12 months by law.
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And, for individuals (should your variation of permissions result in changes to the controlled functions or approved persons within your business), the statutory time-frame is 3-6 months but, again, this can be extended to 12 months if an application is incomplete.​
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FCA Change in Control Notifications
FCA regulated firms are required to notify the FCA of proposed or actual changes in control. If your firm is regulated by both the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), commonly referred to as “dual-regulated” then your business will also need to obtain approval from the PRA.
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​Preparing any FCA submission can be quite daunting as there is a significant amount of information that the FCA requires. It’s also important to get it right first time. The FCA will make a decision on a change in control notification within 60 days, although this period may be interrupted if more information is required to enable a complete assessment of the change.
FCA Consumer Credit Authorisations
If you want to carry on any regulated activities in the UK you will need to be either authorised by the FCA or have a valid exemption from FCA authorisation.
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Since April 2014, the FCA has taken over the regulation of the consumer credit market from the Office of Fair Trading.
Firms that are carrying out regulated activities must be authorised, or exempt. Carrying on a regulated activity without authorisation from the FCA and without the correct permissions, is a criminal offence.
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​We are committed to ensuring the consumer credit market works well and meets customers’ needs.
FCA Senior Managers and
Certification Regime (SMCR)
The Senior Managers and Certification Regime, more commonly referred to as ‘SM&CR’, was extended to all firms in December 2019. SM&CR was introduced with the aim of improving effective governance, cultivating healthy cultures within firms and by making individuals more accountable for their actions.
SM&CR affects almost all regulated firms, from the very smallest (which includes sole traders and limited permission consumer credit firms) to some of the largest global firms.
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The Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR) replaced the Approved Persons Regime, changing how people working in financial services are regulated.
FCA Complaint Handling
Complaints handling rules are contained in the FCA’s Dispute Resolution handbook, more commonly referred to as ‘DISP’. All regulated firms must have in place procedures to handle complaints and they must respond to complainants within set time-scales.
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Generally, firms must respond to complaints in writing within 8 weeks. However, some firms such as payment service providers and e-money issuers must normally respond much quicker; within 15 business days and no later than 35 business days from when they first received the complaint.
FCA Compliance Manuals
FCA regulated firms are required to design and implement policies and procedures, systems and controls proportionate to the nature, scale and activities of their business. For many SME FCA regulated firms this presents a real challenge.
Often small FCA regulated firms don’t have dedicated compliance functions and, if they do, resources tend to be stretched. In the past, small and medium size FCA regulated businesses looked to compliance consultancy firms to help with compliance policies, procedures, systems and controls and often ended up purchasing off the shelf compliance manuals.
FCA Financial Promotions
The definition of a financial promotion is an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity. This definition is quite broad and includes products that people might not initially consider to be “investments” such as consumer credit products and mortgages.
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The financial promotion rules are also media neutral so it can be difficult trying to work out how to apply the rules to different types of media given their uniqueness and limitations. For example:
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Paper brochures, leaflets, flyers
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Television and radio adverts
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Websites, blogs, vlogs, emails
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Social media posts, tweets
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Sales aids such as presentations
Compliance Advice for Data Protection
The EU’s General Data Protection Regime was implemented in the UK on 25 May 2018 and is regulated and enforced by the UK’s Information Commissioner through the Data Protection Act 2018.
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Data protection and security is a hot topic these days as more and more of us are carrying out business online, work online and shop online. We work with IT security professionals to ensure firms comply with the data protection requirements whilst protecting their businesses and customers from cyber-attacks. When things go wrong, we can help by getting to the root of a problem and collaborating with relevant parties to ensure that issues are put right, and preventative measures are put in place for the future.
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At complianceadvice.co.uk all your data protection requirements are covered.
FCA Compliance Consulting
Whatever FCA compliance consultant requirements your firm has, at complianceadvice.co.uk we can help with:
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FCA related compliance project work
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Authorisations work
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FCA compliance consultative advice and solutions
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Specific short-term compliance requirements
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Longer term external compliance support
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If you are looking for practical, workable, commercially compliant solutions for your business, then get in touch, complianceadvice.co.uk is ready to help.
GDPR Policy and Procedures
See our Compliance Advice for FCA Compliance Manuals page for information on why off the shelf compliance policies and procedures are outdated and no longer fit the bill.
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It makes good business sense to design and implement policies and procedures that fit your business. These will help your business achieve profitable, compliant business that improve outcomes for customers.
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At complianceadvice.co.uk we can help on short term projects to bring your compliance policies and procedures up to speed without you incurring unnecessary spend on recruiting temporary or permanent staff to do the job for you.
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At complianceadvice.co.uk we’ve got the know how to hit the ground running.
FCA File Reviews and Call Monitoring
FCA regulated firms are required to design and implement policies and procedures, systems and controls proportionate to the nature, scale and activities of their business. Compliance monitoring arrangements are an important part of this.​
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Small businesses can find monitoring difficult due to finite resources. This is where we can help by stepping in to pick up the work for you. We can quality assurance check your business at a distance to reduce your onsite cost and disruption.
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​We’ll even pick up short term projects such as past business reviews or longer term monitoring solutions such as monthly or quarterly file reviews.
FCA Compliance Consulting
For smaller firms particularly, external compliance consultancy services are essential as they keep the cost down and don’t become a burden on other internal resources.
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For larger regulated firms, external compliance consultancy services are critical to support specific and shorter-term pieces of work where permanent employment is an unnecessary cost.
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Whatever FCA compliance consultant requirements your firm has, at complianceadvice.co.uk we can help.
Compliance Advice for Financial Crime
Combating financial crime is a global problem and one that is becoming increasingly difficult to tackle.
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Criminals and their activities evolve meaning that firms need to stay on the ball to avoid their business being used to further financial crime.
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Apart from the legal obligation imposed on businesses to comply with a raft of financial crime requirements such as the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 and the Bribery Act 2010, there are sound commercial reasons for addressing financial crime risks – criminal acts cost business money.
Compliance Advice for Covid-19 and
FCA Regulated Firms
The Covid-19 pandemic has presented UK FCA regulated firms with numerous challenges; financial challenges, keeping employees safe and working and ensuring customers are safe and treated with consideration to the challenges they too face. It can be a tricky balancing act.
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There are already a raft of rules for FCA regulated firms and this has increased recently with the FCA publishing additional guidance and emergency measures for firms during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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If your business needs help navigating the Covid-19 rules and regulations, complianceadvice.co.uk can help.
