Preparing for the FCA's Senior Managers & Certification Regime (SM&CR)

The FCA has published its finalised guidance on statements of responsibilities (SoRs) and responsibilities maps for FCA firms under the senior managers and certification regime (SM&CR), which will be extended to all FCA authorised firms on 9 December 2019.

Under the extension of SM&CR, all senior managers of FCA-regulated firms are required to have an SoR setting out their responsibilities and certain firms must have a responsibilities map showing how their firm is managed and governed.

The guidance explains the purpose of the SoRs and responsibilities maps, questions for firms to ask themselves, and examples of good and poor practices. 

Firms will also likely need some additional clauses in their employment/directors’ services contracts for senior managers.