The government is proposing to extend the Senior Managers and Certification (SM&CR) regime to all sectors of the financial services industry, replacing the discredited Approved Persons Regime. The FCA has announced that the extension will take place in 2018. Currently, 10.500 individuals fall within the SMR and a further 32,302 within the certification regime. The extension will potentially bring a further 92,300 individuals into the SMR and 66.000 into the certification regime for the first time.  

Given the fundamental changes that firms will need to make in advance of its implementation, it is widely acknowledged that they need to start preparing as soon as possible.

The FCA has said that it will ensure that the extended regime appropriately reflects the diverse business models operating in the UK market and is proportionate to the size and complexity of firms. 

We are delighted that David Blunt, Head of Conduct Supervision at the FCA, has kindly agreed to speak at the event about how the FCA plans to implement the extension of the SMR.

Key topics to be covered include:

• Senior Management Functions and allocating responsibilities
  
• How does a firm manage enforceable Conduct Rules?
  
• Duty of responsibility and enforcement issues
  
• Whistle-blowing and the SM regime
  
• How will the introduction of the SMR impact on the way you run your business in terms of HR practices, reporting lines and organisational structure?
• SMR from the perspective of individual senior managers – what do they need to be aware of?
  
• Responsibilities of regulated firms under the Certification regime – what will it mean in practice?
  
• Lessons learned from the introduction of the SMR in the banking sector  
  
• Scope for mitigating personal regulatory risk through insurance
  
• Practical checklist/guidance for firms implementing the requirements of the SM regime