On October 28, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a policy statement on the extension of implementation deadlines for solo-regulated firms under the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR) regarding the certification regime and conduct rules (the Policy Statement).

The deadlines extended in the Policy Statement from December 9, 2020 to March 31, 2021 by the FCA include:

• the date the conduct rules go into effect for employees who are not senior managers, certification staff or board directors;

• the date relevant employees are required to have received training on the conduct rules;

• the deadline for submission of information about directory persons to the Financial Services Register (Register);

• the requirement for firms to assess certified persons as fit and proper; and

• the deadline for claims management companies (CMC) by an equivalent period. A CMC that received full authorization on or after December 9, 2019 will have over 15 months after the date of its full authorization to meet the same requirements above.

Firms are encouraged, wherever possible, to meet the original deadline of December 9, 2020.

Further to the extension of deadlines, on October 27, the FCA updated its webpage on its directory of certified and assessed persons (the Directory) confirming the publication dates for directory persons data submitted by firms under the SM&CR (the Webpage).

Dual-regulated firms are required to submit their data via the FCA’s online portal — ‘Connect’ by November 13. From November 23, the FCA will begin to publish the data on the Register.

Solo-regulated firms are required to submit their data via Connect by March 31, 2021 using the single-entry submission form. If a firm intends on submitting multiple entry submission forms or wishes for its data to appear on the Register from December 2020, the firm can submit ahead of the deadline. From December 14, the FCA will publish the data submitted on the Register. The last date for single entry submissions to appear from the outset is December 9, 2020.

Under the SM&CR, the FCA will publish and maintain the directory on the Register. Consumers and professionals can check the details of key individuals working in financial services.

The Policy Statement and the Webpage are available here and here.