The SMCR deadline is fast approaching, which will require employees working in regulated finance and investments firms to be fully compliant with the latest SMCR regime.
The SMCR, which stands for Senior Managers Certification Regime, was launched by the Financial Conduct Authority, the City regulator to increase accountability for large investments and potential losses.
Following the credit crisis of 2008, many senior managers and staff avoided confronting their clients or taking responsibility for huge losses, sometimes hiding behind the size of their organisations. But the SMCR regime aims to overcome this by training senior staff and making them individually responsible for any potential risks or losses with large investments or sums of money.
An original deadline for staff to be SMRC compliant was September 2020 but this has been extended due to covid-19, with the official deadline now the 31st March 2021.
With around 60,000 firms in the UK who are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, there are approximately 500,000 employees who need to become SMCR compliant before this deadline and they will require CPD certification as proof.
The type of firms that require SMCR training include banks, investment firms, insurance providers, intermediaries, consumer credit providers, credit unions and more. This is narrowed down into limited scope firms, core firms and enhanced firms.
With the deadline less than 3 months away, managers and employees will be busy making sure that they are up to speed with the latest rules and regulations – allowing them to continue trading in a regulated environment in 2021.
Regulated firms can hire lawyers or compliance companies to assist with this, or they can complete courses online, which have recently been launched by SMCRCompliance.com, the only company in the industry to provide a fully online solution.
Part of the RQC Group, SMCR Compliance offers courses ranging from £30 to £45 depending on the size and complexity of your firm.
Each online course, managed by Docebo, takes around 30 to 45 minutes to complete, giving participants the chance to pause, fast-forward or rewind at their discretion.
At the end, there are questions to answer recapping the course content and participants can receive a CPD certification upon completion.
