Happy Friday all! 

Now you may have spotted I am in fact not Cathi Harrison, but instead Maddie, Compliance Manager here at Verve. It’s been a while since I was last in the Eclipse hot seat and I’m honoured for the opportunity. 

A few weeks ago, I attended the FCA’s Gateway to Growth conference, which was a room full of hundreds of compliance consultants and legal advisers, not regulated financial advice firms themselves. Now, I know some readers may want to switch off at this point as you picture the excitement (or lack thereof) in the room, and can imagine better ways to spend your Friday, but I promise, it’s worth reading on. 

The session focused on discussing the FCA’s authorisations process, and some snazzy initiatives they’ve launched. Why? Well, it has been the perception of the industry for a few years that the FCA ‘only want big firms’ and it’s ‘impossible to apply for authorisation’ and well, this day confirmed that this is not the case.  
 
In fact Nikhil Rathi’s concluding statement was ‘the FCA is very much open for business’.  

Sheree Howard (Executive Director for Authorisations at the FCA) likened the FCA’s authorisation process to airport security. Whilst we all get frustrated by queues at airport security, people not taking their liquids out (is this even a rule anymore?!), we all recognise the purpose and take comfort in the security measures validating people getting on that plane. And that’s exactly what the FCA’s authorisation process is there for, to ensure the right people are getting through the door and into our industry.  

We recognise that the process and standards set by the regulator in terms of getting authorisation are high, but why shouldn’t they be? The industry has been tarnished with some ‘bad apples’ in the past, so the FCA is now taking the approach that if they don’t let them through the door in the first place, then there’s no chance of rot appearing later down the line. The point being that an effective authorisations process is exactly that: a gateway for growth. Growth for businesses, growth for the industry and ultimately an expanding, quality industry to meet the needs of more consumers, something we can all agree is needed. 

I’ve been reflecting on the sessions over these past weeks, and this fundamentally represents a narrative shift of how compliance should be viewed. Compliance is not a business prevention unit, it is not the big bad NO inhibiting growth and any other word under the sun you want to call it (trust me, we’ve heard it all). Compliance is your risk mitigation. Or at least it should be. And that is something we at Verve have been preaching for a long time.

Compliance needs to be practical, and proportionate. Yes, there are a few things within compliance we could all ‘do without’ but the overarching sentiment is that compliance exists to protect your business, to facilitate healthy, measured and sustained growth, and ultimately to protect the end consumer.  

Just going back to the day, anyone looking to seek authorisation, vary their permissions (fundamental business changes), or looking to acquire/change control, the FCA has a lovely initiative called PASS. Pre-application support service. This free service from the FCA is essentially a chance to discuss your plans, and have the FCA review (and potentially challenge), prior to applying. The hope in this is that: 

1. You are well informed of the potential blind spots.
2. Your application should be processed quicker as you have addressed these prior. 

Note, the FCA is also looking to reduce their statutory deadlines across application types (without jeopardising the standard of assessment). A win for everyone! 

Whilst people reading may not necessarily be going through any of these desired changes at present, take comfort that the regulator is listening and, more importantly, reacting.  

If anyone is going through these changes, or looking to, you know where we are!  

And that’s it for my compliance hot seat this time, have a lovely weekend all!  

I’d love to give a snazzy drink recommendation, but I’m moving house this week (pray for me) and therefore my weekend will be filled with boxes, boxes and more boxes. So anything caffeine related, I'm your gal.