SMCR (Senior Managers and Certification Regime)

The Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR), which replaced the Approved Persons Regime (APR) in the banking industry in March 2016, is meant for all organizations authorized under the Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA) such as UK-incorporated banks, building societies, and credit unions, as well as Prudential Regulation Authority-regulated investment banks and insurers.

The SM&CR's goal is to protect consumers and strengthen market integrity by holding individuals more accountable for their actions and competence, encouraging a culture of individual responsibility among employees at all levels, and ensuring that both firms and employees understand and can demonstrate where responsibility lies.

A firm must ensure that no employee of the firm performs an FCA certification function under an arrangement entered into by the firm in relation to the carrying on by that firm of a regulated activity unless the employee has a valid certificate issued by that firm to perform the function to which the certificate relates, according to the Certification Regime. While a senior leader may delegate their tasks to staff further down the line, they cannot delegate the accountability for monitoring and results of activities made by staff under the Senior Managers Regime.

These stringent screening procedures assist an organization's compliance in ensuring that personnel are fit and appropriate to perform their roles within the organization, both when they first join and on a continuing basis. Our SMCR package gives you piece of mind that personnel who perform essential responsibilities in your company have undergone the necessary employment screening procedures.

Details & requirements

• This package is only available to candidates based in the United Kingdom.
• This package is available for job roles that fall under SMR and SMCR and is for firms who need to screen their candidates in accordance with FCA standards.
• Please do not purchase this bundle if your candidate requires foreign checks. Please contact us to discuss your overseas needs.

NOTE: Candidates for SMCR positions may be required to provide regulatory references if they have previously held such a job and the referee has a six-week SLA set by the regulator.

 

These are some of the Pre-employment or due diligence checks that organisations may want to consider running in SMCR (Senior Managers and Certification Regime) sector