During a recent webinar, COMPLY’s UK Director, Compliance Advisory Jessica Freckleton, and Compliance Consultant Samantha Scrivin assessed the tactics, best practices, and processes to enable more comprehensive compliance programme management amid heightening regulatory scrutiny.
In their Business Plan 2024/25, the FCA stated their objectives as:
- protect consumers
- protect the integrity of the UK financial system
- promote effective competition in the interests of consumers
And the impact for FCA-authorised firms? A need for comprehensive compliance programme management aimed at ensuring appropriate outcomes that meet FCA expectations.
3 Takeaways for Your Regulatory Compliance Programme
When polled on how comprehensive their current compliance programme is, 57% of the webinar audience stated they would like to create a more robust compliance monitoring programme.
To support that initiative, we’ve summarised the top three takeaways from our recent webinar to enhance your regulatory compliance programme:
1. It’s critical that your firm’s compliance programme cover key areas of regulatory focus.
Freckleton emphasized the critical role of compliance monitoring programmes in protecting both the firm and the market at large. She accentuated the practice areas that must be routinely covered, such as anti-money laundering (AML) and Consumer Duty, establishing the scope of a firm’s regulatory compliance programme.
2. Ongoing monitoring is essential to detect any violations or areas of noncompliance.
Key topics related to market abuse, outsourced functions periodic review, and personal securities holdings review highlight the various aspects of compliance that must be highly monitored. Speakers underscored the need for effective arrangements to detect suspicious activities, maintain due diligence records, and conduct regular, thorough assessments of third-party service providers’ policies and procedures as part of comprehensive compliance management.
3. Technology and automation can aid in making key compliance processes more manageable.
The potential for automation in streamlining compliance procedures and making the process more manageable was highlighted. The use of tools like COMPLY’s Certifications module for managing certifications and the SMCR module for automating fitness and propriety assessments gives firms room to increase efficiency while maintaining full compliance.
UK Regulatory Compliance with COMPLY
It’s clear the complexity of the regulatory environment necessitates robust compliance programme management. However, as firms face nuanced regulatory requirements and heightened scrutiny, the veritable mountain of to-dos can feel simply like an impossibility.
Implementing robust compliance technology configured to your regulatory environment and your firm’s unique business profile is critical to maintaining the compliance standards required by the FCA. And now? You can. With COMPLY.
COMPLY Program Management offers a calendarised solution to enable robust compliance programme management. And the best part? It’s backed by our FCA experts, meaning we continue to adjust and enhance the solution to best serve your needs.
Ready to see it in action? Schedule time to speak with one of our technology experts today.