Image courtesy of investigate.co.uk
Just over a year has passed since the FCA started the Senior Manager’s Regime (SMR), and since March this year the rules now apply to nearly all staff of regulated institutions.
The FCA is slowly but surely clarifying and reinforcing what they expect and what the ramifications of failing to comply will mean. In a recent speech, Mark Steward, Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight at the FCA made some very interesting points, in particular:
“..., a senior manager is not liable just because the firm has breached a requirement. The senior manager’s liability arises because he or she has failed to take reasonable steps to prevent the firm from being in breach and the firm is in breach.”
Steward’s comments make amply clear that it is not just deliberate wrongdoings that may be punished, it is also a failure to act which can lead to penalties, both for the company and/or the individual.
It certainly makes me hopeful that claiming a rudimentary spreadsheet is “good enough”, when far more robust and accurate automated solutions exist, is no longer an option.
