Regulatory Health Checks and Thematic Reviews

Service Overview

The regulatory agenda is ever expanding and evolving. Firms themselves are ever changing, often launching new propositions, services or moving into new markets.

With this, the regulatory rules and guidance firms need to comply with grow and become more complex. This can put a strain on BAU risk and compliance functions, who may find themselves facing both capacity and capability challenges. The net result being that regulatory non-compliance is not identified, issues are left to manifest and grow, creating a risk of more costly future remediation activity and regulatory scrutiny.

How Square 4 can help

Square 4 boasts a team of highly experienced regulatory consultants and compliance professionals with extensive technical regulatory knowledge. Our people are highly experienced in reviewing a firm’s practices against all areas of the FCA Handbook. In addition to identifying non-compliance and associated risks, we also provide our clients with pragmatic and proportionate recommendations to improve practices in order to meet the regulatory requirements and make ongoing compliance more effective.

The scope of our regulatory healthchecks and thematic reviews are tailored to each of our clients depending on their individual circumstances and needs. We deliver large programmes with multiple review areas, or can focus on specific areas of the handbook or the business.

Our reviews follow a tried and tested approach of:

Document reviews;
Stakeholder / key individual interviews;
File / case testing;
Report findings, risks and recommendations.

We operate a ‘no surprises’ approach. Throughout the engagement we clearly cite any risks, concerns and potential remediation activity required so you a prepared before the report is issued. Every business is different, so our report will offer tailored and pragmatic recommendations to put right any issues identified. We can also help with any of the suggested remediation activity, so you can be assured to meet your regulatory obligations in the future.

Service Benefits

Third party specialist assurance that the firm is compliant / not compliant with relevant areas of the FCA handbook.
A clearly articulated regulatory compliance report outlining our findings, risks, recommendations, and any potential remediation activity.
Post review remediation support to ensure your firm meets its regulatory obligations going forward.
Alleviate capacity internally or bridge a capability gap.
Insight and sharing of best practice from other firms that we work with.

Further Depth & Detail

Achieving and evidencing compliance with all relevant aspects of the FCA handbook is crucial in an increasingly scrutinising regulatory environment. Demonstrating proactive compliance and remediation, with independent review and assurance, supports a firm’s position and relationship with the FCA. Implementing a strong compliance culture with robust monitoring across the 3LOD frameworks will enable firms to meet their strategic objectives without the risk of unforeseen systemic issues and costly remediation activity.

FAQ

Q. What types of firm have you supported with regulatory health checks and thematic reviews?

A. We’ve supported firms across the retail lending, wealth and pensions sectors undertake both large review programmes, and focused technical reviews. The firms in retail lending range from large challenger and digital banks, to credit, mortgage and motor finance providers. In the wealth and pensions sector we have worked with large financial advisers and networks, to mid-tier investment managers and boutique asset managers.

Q: What areas of the handbook do firms typically need most support with?

A: In the retail lending sector, the majority of our reviews focus on SYSC, CONC, MCOBS, DISP, and SUP. In the wealth and pensions sector, the majority of our reviews focus on SYSC, COBS, COLL, FUND, ESG, PROD, MAR and CASS. We also undertake specific Consumer Duty focused reviews which consider PRIN2A.

Q: How long does a review typically take?

A: Our work is dependent on gaining access to documents, files and stakeholders. In addition, the scope of work and size of firm can vary significantly. For targeted reviews, the end-to-end process could take as little as 4 weeks. Larger programmes of activity can take up to 3 months.

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