Governance within FCA regulated firms
Having looked at developments in corporate governance ‘codes’ earlier in the year (Corporate Governance: one size does not fit all ), we felt it would be helpful to highlight the impact that the FCA’s approach to culture and governance has in our work on governance with our regulated clients. Again, this has been a theme on which we have written before (for example FCA discussion paper continues call for the transformation of financial services culture in order to rebuild trust ), but one which continues to change and develop.
In particular, whilst banks, building societies, credit unions and PRA–designated investment firms and incoming branches of such firms have been working within the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR) for some time, that regime is now being extended to insurers at the end of this year and to all solo-regulated FCA firms at the end of next year.
You can find some thoughts on implementation in our Toolkit for the new Senior Managers and Certification Regime and for public companies whose group includes an authorised fund manager it is also for example worth keeping in mind the new requirements for independent directors coming in next year (which arose out of the Asset Management Market Study). We are running various workshops and seminars on implementation, as well as working with clients on particular projects.
We have for some time had the new regime in mind when considering changes to corporate structures and governance for our FCA regulated clients, to ensure whatever changes take account of the new regime as far as practicable. Indeed, SMCR (and other governance developments) can be seen as an opportunity to reassess and refresh governance structures and ensure these are fit for purpose and for the business more generally, as opposed to seeing it as just as another compliance task. That requires engagement across the business, but may mean that additional value can be extracted, as well as disruption minimised.
For more information please contact David Hicks.
