iOn June 30, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a statement on an extension to the Senior Managers & Certification Regime (SM&CR) implementation periods for solo regulated firms (the Statement).
In the Statement, the FCA announced that the deadline for solo-regulated firms to undertake the first assessment of the fitness and propriety of their Certified Persons has been delayed from December 9 until March 31, 2021. This will give firms affected by the COVID-19 pandemic time to bring themselves into compliance with the new requirements.
To ensure SM&CR deadlines remain consistent, the FCA is also considering an extension to the deadline for the following requirements from December 9 to March 31, 2021:
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the date the Conduct Rules become effective;
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the deadline for submission of information about Directory Persons to the Register; and
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references in the FCA’s rules to the deadline for assessing Certified Persons as fit and proper.
The FCA notes that firms should continue with their programs of work in these areas and, if they are able to certify staff earlier than March 2021, they should do so.
The FCA will still publish details of certified employees of solo- regulated firms starting from December 9 on the Financial Services Register. Where firms are able to provide this information before March 2021, the FCA encourages them to do so.
The Statement is available here.
