Compliance, Conduct & Governance

Providing the benefit of in-depth expertise on European regulatory compliance matters including risk, compliance and conduct risk frameworks, the application of MiFID rules and the SMCR Regime, and general insight into regulatory expectations versus practical implementation.

Regulatory Change

Why Insight?

  • Extensive in-house and product knowledge which allows Insight to analyse, assimilate and provide guidance on the interpretation and the practical implementation of regulatory changes; and

  • Deep knowledge and understanding of how businesses operate and how regulatory changes will affect them.

Areas of expertise

  • Managing and dealing with large scale regulatory change –determining the resources and technology required to implement those changes;

  • Establishing appropriate governance around regulatory change to ensure that decisions regarding regulatory change are made and communicated to the right level through the organisation;

  • Assisting clients to demonstrate when and why decisions are made about regulatory change implementation and who is responsible;

  • Testing and controls: review and in-depth front-to-back testing of a firms regulatory change management process to demonstrate that the regulatory change has been taken seriously by a firm and identifying any errors in implementation whilst it is being done; and

  • Post-implementation reviews of outputs.

SMCR Implementation

Why Insight?

  • Actual Experience of being a Senior Manager subject to the regime and knowledge of how to practically and pragmatically meet its requirements, as an individual and as a firm.

Areas of expertise

  • Drafting robust Responsibilities Maps outlining a firm’s management and governance arrangements including;

    • How prescribed responsibilities have been allocated and to whom;

    • Who has overall responsibility for the firm’s activities, business areas and management

      functions;

    • Details of individuals and committee reporting lines; and

    • How responsibilities are shared or divided.

  • Compiling statement of responsibilities for the senior management team;

  • Establishing and embedding tailored Duties of Responsibility frameworks to enable Senior

    Managers to demonstrate that they have taken “reasonable” steps to fulfil their obligations;

  • Helping draft and/or reviewing hand over procedures to ensure that there are no gaps in accountability;

  • Helping draft and/or reviewing a firm’s certifications regime framework;

  • The provision of training to staff on both the senior Managers and the Certification regimes; and

  • Providing scenario based training on the application of the conduct rules.

Compliance Risk Frameworks

Why Insight?

  • Experience of dealing with regulators both in the UK and the US gives Insight an excellent understanding of regulatory expectations of what the risk framework should be including the expected governance and oversight of the Compliance function.

  • Real world knowledge of building, implementing and managing compliance risk • frameworks.

Areas of expertise

  • Establishment and/or review of a firms compliance risk framework including, regulatory change management, monitoring and testing, compliance risk assessments, governance and escalation;

  • Formulation and review of a firm’s compliance function strategy which should set out what a compliance function is trying to achieve over a 2 to 5 year period i.e. the long term strategy of the compliance function which should be reviewed and approved at senior executive levels;

  • A review of a firms compliance mandate to ensure it is suitable for the nature and scope of the firm and that it is over and above the absolute minimum of ensuring “regulatory compliance”. The mandate should ensure the effectiveness of the risk and control environment and ensuring independent challenge;

  • The review and enhancement of the annual compliance plan. Ensuring that main risks are identified and reflected accordingly including the frequency and sample sizes of testing and their rationale. Ensuring accuracy, completeness and that the plans are fit for purpose. Plans should be appropriate and justifiable for the scale and nature of the businesses and risks that they are intended to cover; and

  • Talent assessment: Firms are required to have appropriate resource in place which includes not just the number of compliance officers retained by a firm but that the skills and expertise. With the extensive management experience, specifically with regard to compliance functions, Insight can ensure that firms have identified any gaps that they may have and that a plan is in place to address them in order to achieve an effective compliance function.

Conduct Risk

Why Insight?

  • Insight has the experience and ability to design and build bespoke conduct risk frameworks tailored to the strategy, nature and scope of a firm’s business;

  • Practical and sustainable strategies for managing conduct which sit side by side with the way in which a firm identifies and manages conflicts of interest.

Areas of expertise

  • Effective assessment of conduct risks in businesses and then designing and building robust, practical frameworks that will provide firms with an effective and sustainable conduct risk frameworks and withstand regulatory scrutiny;

  • Designing and embedding self-assessment programmes to help firms to compare conduct risks across businesses and functions ensuring that the output of the assessments are maximised;

  • Testing the effectiveness of Conduct Risk Frameworks both from a top-down and bottom-up approach;

  • Tailored Conduct Risk scenario based training. Our experience has shown that this is the most effective way of engaging employees and encouraging active debate and ultimately, establishing accountability; and

  • Conduct risk governance: ensuring effective controls and governance around the information that is compiled and reported to the senior executive body.

Regulatory Coaching, Mentoring and Meeting Preparation

Why Insight?

  • Actual experience of the regulatory panel interview as well as preparation of many senior managers for interviews;

  • Knowledge and understanding of what is required of individuals in terms of preparation and demonstrating that the appropriate experience and skills to perform their functions, and ultimately getting regulatory approval;

  • Preparation and management of regulatory visits.

    Areas of expertise

  • Coaching individuals and teams ahead of a regulatory reviews for Controlled Functions and Senior Management Functions.

  • Preparation for controlled function and senior managers interviews. The process is much more challenging now and detailed and knowledgeable preparation is becoming increasingly important including:

    • The first insight into an individual applying for a senior management or controlled function position that the FCA has is the application form. Getting the competency assessment correct will be essential. Having reviewed and compiled many competency assessments across a multiple of disciplines, Insight is in the right place to assist firms;

    • Establishing and reviewing on-boarding plans for an individual applying for a senior management function or controlled function. A firm needs to be able to demonstrate that they have complete insight into a candidates competencies and gaps in knowledge and or experience. A robust on-boarding plan, to be given to the regulator, with the application is an important part of the process;

    • For example, a CEO must demonstrate awareness of issues at a conceptual level including: business strategy; their view of the senior management team; compliance and risk framework; governance and controls; and conduct risk strategy.

    • Insight into what the regulator is trying to achieve which will vary depending on the person and the role; and

    • Assisting with a high level review of the business for which the individual is interviewing to ensure that appropriate gaps in skill set and strategy of teams are identified and plans to address those gaps can be articulated during the interview process.