Regulation of the securities industry
The Treasury
Tasked with delivering the governments objective to promote stability, fairness, efficiency and competitiveness in financial markets
Bank of England
Specific statutory responsibilities for setting policy - for interest rates, for financial stability and for the regulation of banks and insurance companies
Financial Policy Committee
A BoE committee established to identify, monitor and take action to remove or reduce systemic risks with a view to protecting and enhancing the resilience of the UK financial system
FCA
Ensure that the financial markets function well while its operational objectives are to protect consumers, protect the financial markets and to promote effective competition for the benefit of consumers
PRA - a subsidiary of the BoE tasked with enhancing financial stability, promoting safety and soundness of authorised persons and minimising impact of failure
The stautus of being an authorised or exempt person is conferred on application to the FCA by an individual or firm
A person carrying on a regulated activity who is not authorised or not exempted commits an offence, agreements made in respect of the regulated activity may be unenforceable by the unauthorised person and they may be restrained by injunction or be made subject to a restitution order
Senior Managers and Certification Regime
The FCA supervises the qualification and experience of those persons charged with running or having crucial roles in financial services firms through a process known as the Senior Managers & Certification Regime
SM&CR was originally brought in to assist with bank supervision in 2016 and was extended to cover all firms authorised under FSMA2000 and regulated by the FCA December 2019 other than benchmark firms where implementation was the following year in December 2020
The framework for individual accountability comprises three elements
Senior managers regime
Certification regime
Conduct rules
Where a firm wishes to employ someone to carry out specific senior management functions, they must seek approval from the FCA in advance. These senior management functions are broadly divided into customer functions and significant influence functions
While a person may be appointed to more than one controlled function the firms must demonstrate that the individual is capable of managing these multiple regulated functions
Some combinations of roles do sit better together, such that being a company director and having oversight of the firms systems and controls or compliance function will be easier to justify than say having oversight of compliance and retail mortgage advice