What is an Important Business Service? An important business service is one that if disrupted, could cause potential harm to consumers and/or pose a risk to the stability and integrity of the financial market or system. Completing an Important Business Services Assessment is mandatory for many regulated firms. The identification and documentation of such services […]
Having adequate, effective and compliant policies, procedures and training workshops on what makes a customer vulnerable, how to identify them and how to communicate effectively is not only a mandatory FCA requirement, but also an essential business practice. It is even more important in times of national crisis, such as the current pandemic, to ensure […]
HSBC Fined £6,280,100 The importance of having effective policies and procedures in place for treating customers fairly and managing those in arrears cannot be overstated. HSBC UK Bank plc and Marks and Spencer Financial Services plc (“HSBC”) are the latest firm penalised for failing to treat customers in arrears or with financial difficulties fairly. Last […]
Why is Wind-down Planning Important? The FCA’s wind-down planning guidance was published back in 2016. This has recently gained additional scrutiny and attention with the publication of the FCA page ‘Preparing your firm’s wind-down plan’ in March 2024. While the 60-page guidance itself does not impose any obligation on a firm to create a wind-down […]
Introduction Anti money laundering (AML) compliance in the UK is overseen by appointed supervisory authorities. AML for Annex 1 registered firms has recently come under scrutiny by the FCA after their assessment into money laundering prevention processes. The regulator found cases of discrepancies between the registered and actual activities carried out by firms. In addition, […]
This article provides information on the Consumer Duty and offers suggestions for complying with the rules and outcomes. We have put the FCA Consumer Duty guidance into simple to read sections and have included controls and tools for adherence to the Duty requirements. What is The Consumer Duty? The FCA’s Consumer Duty (“the Duty”) came […]
Do you need to review financial promotions for CONC compliance? This article provides guidance and information on who CONC applies to and how to review your promotions to comply with CONC 3. What is the Consumer Credit Sourcebook? The Consumer Credit Sourcebook (CONC) is listed under the ‘specialist sourcebook’ section of the FCA handbook. It […]
The new FCA financial promotions rules introduce a gateway for firms who approve financial promotions. Regulated firms are already obligated to comply with the COBS 4 Handbook rules on financial promotions and client communications. However, PS23/13 introduces new standards and requirements for those seeking to approve financial promotions for communication by unauthorised persons. What are […]
Compliance Monitoring Tools There are 2 mandatory documents that the FCA requires a firm to submit when they apply for FCA authorisation. One is the Regulatory Business Plan and the other is the Compliance Monitoring Programme. The latter is where a firm documents all their compliance controls, measures and actions. On the regulators application for […]
Consumer Duty Speech Nisha Arora, Director of Cross Cutting Policy and Strategy at the FCA delivered a speech last week at the Deloitte: Consumer Duty – Next Steps event. It’s been 3 months since the Consumer Duty came into force and the FCA are keen to emphasise that this is still one of their key […]