One of our clients recently asked this ‘easy’ question. “We are a limited company but the firm is 100% owned by a holding company. We have received a letter from the ICO asking us to register the holding company. Does the holding company need to register – it will not be controlling or […]
We have completed the latest upgrade to ATEB Suitability on 20th September 2021. This update comes at no additional cost and provides various template enhancements. Full details of the enhancements can be found in the tables below, but some of the highlights are: Reformatted ‘Attitude to Investment Risk’ section Following customer feedback, the risk profile […]
Publication of the FCA’s Business Plan for 2021/22 was delayed from its usual spot in April, finally appearing at the end of July. The document can be accessed here. An overview of the content follows. Transformation The plan contains a huge amount of mission/vision speak, as is typical in the annual reports of most large […]
New rules, transposing the Fifth Money Laundering Directive (5MLD) into UK law took effect on 10 January 2020. One impact of the rules was to broaden the scope of the Trust Registration Service (TRS) requirements. you can read more about 5MLD and TRS here. In brief, the previous rules required that all express trusts that […]
Most readers will be aware of the FCA’s successful legal action in what has been widely referred to as the Avacade case, which is how we will refer to it in this article. In fact, the case was brought against a number of defendants/appellants, namely: AVACADE LIMITED (in liquidation) (trading as AVACADE INVESTMENT OPTIONS) […]
We have received the following correspondence from the FCA: “On 12 August 2021, we sent the below e-mail* informing you of our plans to issue a Covid-19 Impact Survey to firms in Tranche 2 for a fifth time. We have since identified a discrepancy with the survey links (issued between 23-25 August 2021). […]
The FCA is consulting on moving some decision-making from its Regulatory Decisions Committee (RDC) to its Authorisations, Supervision and Enforcement Divisions. This will give greater responsibility for decisions to senior members of FCA staff close to the matters. The consultation (CP21/25) has been published and will close on 17 September. In particular, the FCA is proposing a […]
There is a longstanding regulatory principle (Principle 8) that a firm must manage conflicts of interest fairly, both between itself and its customers and between a customer and another client. Specific rules give effect to that principle. Some readers will recall the change of emphasis around conflicts of interest rules that arrived with MiFID II […]
It has been well publicised that the FCA has aimed increasingly close scrutiny in the direction of firms that have been providing advice in relation to defined benefit pension transfers. Apparently caught off guard by the then Chancellor’s introduction in the Pension Schemes Act 2015 of what are generally called ‘pension freedoms’, the regulator has […]
Our new website is www.thistleinitiatives.co.uk. There will be no further posts here from ATEB Compliance. You can keep up to date with all of our usual regulatory and company updates here going forward.
Update on SMR and CF (AR) applications
Lisa Cross Compliance 2020, 2021, Certification, Conduct, COVID-19, FCA, Senior Manager, SM&CR, Update
The FCA has published an update on the timescales and delays currently being experienced by firms that submit application for approval. The update is shown below. “We communicated in December 2020 about the delays in determining SMR (Senior Manager Regime) and SIF (Significant Influence Function) applications, following the large volume of applications received before the […]