Fintech Focus Podcast | Managing a Workforce in a Regulated Environment
Fintech Focus Podcast | Growing a Workforce in a Regulated Environment
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Unfair and Unbalanced-Episode 18
Since its inception in 2016, the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR) has served as a cornerstone of the UK’s financial services regulatory landscape, designed to enhance individual accountability and raise...more
The Senior Managers & Certification Regime ("SM&CR") has been a cornerstone of the UK’s individual accountability regulatory framework for banks, insurers and other regulated firms since its introduction in the wake of the...more
On 15 July 2025, HM Treasury, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) published consultation papers proposing possibly significant reforms to the Senior Managers and Certification...more
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) are considering ways to enhance individual accountability, particularly among Senior Managers, by more fully integrating the regulatory...more
The Financial Conduct Authority has published a Dear CEO Letter setting out its key concerns and priorities over the next two years for benchmark administrators. The FCA's supervisory priorities include: - corporate...more
This episode of “Fintech Focus” picks up where our last episode “Growing a Workforce in a Regulated Environment” left off. Part Two delves further into workplace considerations for fintechs, and focuses on how they can manage...more
As growth-stage fintechs manage a rapidly increasing workforce, they are faced with onboarding senior-level hires within the scope of a complex regulatory environment in the U.K. On our latest “Fintech Focus” podcast, host...more
At the start of 2024, the New York State Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) issued an industry letter: Guidance on Assessment of the Character and Fitness of Directors, Senior Officers, and Managers (the “Guidance”),...more
“The first rule of enforcement club is that you do in fact talk about enforcement club”; so Therese Chambers, the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight, announced...more
The latest proposals for improving diversity and inclusion in the UK financial services sector, published by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority, include changes that will impact Senior Manager...more
The UK Financial Conduct Authority's consultation on diversity and inclusion (D&I) in financial services proposes new rules and guidance on identifying and taking action in relation to non-financial misconduct such as...more
In the build-up to his appointment as chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in 2020, Nikhil Rathi stated that his vision for the regulator involved “a stronger, prompter approach to enforcement”. This...more
The Federal Reserve recently published a whopping 118-page review of the failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), and three days later the FDIC published a 75-page report outlining several ideas to reform our deposit insurance...more
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) published a discussion paper on 30 March 2023 seeking opinions on the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR). Concurrently, the UK...more
The letters ask senior management to prioritise implementing the Duty. On 3 February 2023, the FCA published Dear CEO/Director letters underscoring the immediate (i.e., during the implementation period up until 31 July...more
Following the publication of the final rules, firms have been moving at pace to prepare implementation plans for boards to review, scrutinise and challenge, in order to achieve the 31st October deadline set by the Financial...more
With the publication of the final rules there is now only a year to go before firms must comply with their Consumer Duty obligations. The FCA has emphasised that this must be a major cultural shift. While it’s good news that...more
How A&O Consulting can help you meet the challenge of the wider ranging set of requirements and regulatory expectations for the Consumer Duty....more
Diversity and inclusion proposals put forward by the FCA and PRA will impact on senior managers’ obligations. In this post, we focus on potential changes to board representation, individual accountability and senior managers’...more
Between Monday 11 and Friday 15 October our UK Financial Services Regulatory team will host a series of foundational training sessions across a variety of UK regulatory topics and themes. ...more
Key Points - The Upper Tribunal has issued the first ruling in relation to the FCA’s decision to sanction an individual following a conviction for a criminal offence which did not involve dishonesty. The FCA had sought...more
Yesterday’s joint Discussion Paper (DP21/2) published by the Bank of England, Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA, together “the regulators”) on “Diversity and inclusion in the financial...more
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is contacting thousands of firms across various sectors that appear to have missed the 31 March 2021 deadline for submitting “Directory person” data. ...more
In last year’s publication we highlighted the top regulatory focus areas for our clients during 2020, concentrating on wholesale market structures and conduct risk. This publication outlines the primary focus areas in...more
The UK Financial Conduct Authority recently published Policy Statement 20/12, which sets out the final rules on the extension of the Senior Managers and Certification Regime implementation deadlines for the certification...more