The FCA and HM Treasury has agreed to delay, from 9 December 2020 until 31 March 2021, the deadline for solo-regulated firms to have undertaken the first assessment of the fitness and propriety of their Certified Persons (Certification Staff). This delay has been implemented to give firms that have been significantly affected by the Coronavirus pandemic more time to make any changes they need.
The FCA is also intending to consult on extending the deadline to 31 March 2021, for the following areas which were due to be in force by 9 December 2020. The FCA has said it intends to finalise its policy as soon as possible.
Certification of Fitness and Propriety Rule References:
Although the deadline for certification has been agreed the FCA has said that firms should continue with their programmes of work in this area and, if firms are able to certify staff earlier than 31 March 2021, they should do so. On the other hand, firms should not wait to remove staff who are not fit and proper from certified roles.
Conduct Rules:
Although Senior Managers and Certification Staff needed to have been trained and be abiding by the Conduct Rules from 9 December 2019, firms were originally given 12 months from that date to put in processes to comply with the training and conduct rules reporting requirements and to train their other staff on the Conduct Rules. It is intended that the deadline be extended to 31 March 2021.
With Conduct Rules training, the FCA has emphasised that Senior Managers must ensure that Conduct Rules training is effective, so that staff are aware of the Conduct Rules and understand how they apply to them in their jobs. The FCA will publish more guidance about its expectations on the Conduct Rules in due course.
The Directory:
With regard to submitting details of Certification Staff for the new Directory, which was originally to be in place by 9 December 2020, the FCA has said it will still publish details of certified employees of solo firms starting from 9 December 2020 on the Financial Services Register. Where firms are able to provide information on their certification staff to the FCA before March 2021, they should do so.
As the Certification Regime and reporting of Directory Persons do not apply to Benchmark Administrators there will be no delay in rules applying to them. Benchmark Administrators have until December 2021 to train non-Senior Manager staff in the Conduct Rules.
How we can help
Should you need any guidance or assistance in dealing with matters relating to compliance with FCA or related regulatory matters in general, please contact:
- Jan Hagen – jan.hagen@complyport.co.uk
Read the original release from the FCA below
https://www.fca.org.uk/news/news-stories/extension-smcr-implementation-periods-solo-regulated-firms
