FCA Compliance Consultant

FCA Consultant or FCA Template Provider?

An FCA compliance consultant is an individual who can help a financial services regulated firm gain or maintain authorisation. The FCA’s authorisation application process can be rigorous and complex, so having a consultant to work with can be useful. However, it can also be very expensive and is often aimed at getting you through the authorisation process only. Completing the FCA application is only the first step in an ongoing process that leads to having a long-term FCA compliance framework.

For larger firms or those with more complex business types or activities, using a consultant is a great idea. But what if you are a small business? Maybe even a sole trader looking to gain your FCA permission and ensure you also have the policies and controls required. Paying out thousands of pounds is not your only option!

Free FCA Application Guidance

The FCA already do a very good job at guiding firms through their Part 4A permission application process. The FCA authorisation application guidance notes are detailed and helpful. They tell you what you need to havein place and what you must do for each stage of the application. You should also familiarise yourself with the FCA Handbook PERG section, which gives guidance about when authorisation is required and which activities are regulated.

You can use these notes to walk yourself through the application without having to pay a financial consulting firm an additional cost. Your only requirement then is to ensure you have the FCA policies and controls required for your activiites and business type. Again, the guidance notes set out most of the mandatory policies and procedures they expect you to have in place.

Templates for FCA Policies and Controls

You will not need to submit all your policies and controls to the FCA during the authorisation application. However, you MUST have them ready and implemented should the regulator request them. The way they review which policies and procedures you have is to ask you to submit an FCA Compliance Monitoring Document Programme along with your application.

This essential document sets out the procedures, controls and measures you have in place to comply with the FCA Handbook rules and guidance. You will record the policies you have in place, procedures for maintaining and monitoring compliance and any controls such as gap analysis checklists, logs, reports and audits.

The compliance monitoring document is a quick glance sheet for the FCA to see if you have everything in place. They can then request individual policies and documents off you based on those you have listed. This is where Know Your Compliance Limited come in…

Over 10 years ago, we started drafting policies, controls and procedures to help businesses gain and maintain FCA authorisation. With 200+ regulatory policies, templates, checklists and toolkits, we are the UK’s leading compliance template provider! Simply check which policies and templates you need to have based on your business type and then visit our vast Template Store to purchase and download what you need.