2014 was certainly a bumper year for the FCA in terms of the level of enforcement fines it imposed. A total of over £1.4 billion was levied in fines by the FCA in 2014, dwarfing the total figure of just under £500 million in 2013. It was also a year of firsts, with the first […]

The FCA and PRA have published a joint consultation paper (FCA CP15/5 and PRA CP7/15) on the revised position of Non-Executive Directors (NEDs) of UK banks in respect of the Senior Managers Regime (SMR), as well as the application of the presumption of responsibility provisions introduced by the Financial Services (Banking Reform Act) 2013 to […]

The FCA and the PRA have published a joint consultation paper (FCA CP15/4 and PRA CP6/15) on whistleblowing in deposit-takers, PRA-designated investment firms and insurers. The joint consultation paper sets out proposed changes to the Senior Management Arrangements, Systems and Controls sourcebook (SYSC), which would require that firms: put in place internal whistle-blowing arrangements; inform […]

The FCA and PRA are seeking to put their tough talking into practice. Alison McHaffie, a partner at the CMS Financial Services team in London. assesses the extent to which the regulators are achieving their goal of holding senior management to account. considers recent enforcement cases, and developments such as the new senior managers regime […]

A joint consultation, “Strengthening Accountability in Banking: A New Regulatory Framework For Individuals” has far reaching implications for bankers. The consultation takes into consideration the recommendations published by the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards (PCBS) in its June 2013 report Changing Banking for Good and answers the requirements of the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act […]

The FCA and PRA have begun consultation on: a new Senior Managers’ Regime (SMR) to replace the old Approved Persons Regime (APER), but covering a narrower range of individuals than APER; a new Certification Regime (CR), whereby firms would have to self-certify certain employees as ‘fit and proper’, and would apply to a wider range of individuals than APER; […]

The PRA and FCA have published a series of responses to a letter sent by Andrew Tyrie, Chairman of the Treasury Select Committee on 23 June 2014, in which he sought clarification on how the PRA and FCA use their respective powers to require a report by a skilled person in accordance with section 166 […]

On 19 June 2014 the PRA published Policy Statement PS5/14: The PRA Rulebook. This included new final rules for the PRA Handbook, which were previously the subject of Consultation Paper 2/14. That consultation had “not propos[ed] a material change” to the rules, but rather sought to “reshape” the original PRA Handbook material – mostly inherited […]