In Depth: SMCR

Help maintain accountability within your firm and manage SMCR responsibilities more efficiently.

Accountability, company culture, and governance are three essential elements that regulated firms must monitor. The Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR) provides a framework for firms to do so throughout their organisation, from Senior Managers themselves to general members of staff. In practice, this means that firms must regularly assess their Senior Managers and employees with other roles that could “cause significant harm to the firm or its customers” for their suitability, monitor compliance and good conduct across all staff, and be able to demonstrate these activities to the regulator.

Digital tools like ComplyPortal’s SM&CR module help firms allocate each of the FCA-prescribed senior management responsibilities to a Senior Manager. Senior Management Functions (SMFs) can easily be assigned to Senior Managers to view and accept their assigned responsibilities. ComplyPortal provides a systematic method to track assignment and transfer of individual accountability to better maintain oversight and ensure their firms remain accountable and properly governed.

Who is it for: Compliance Officers and Senior Managers

Key features:

Create thorough audit trails to demonstrate compliance
Assign Senior Managers to SMF responsibilities
Manage responsibilities for Senior Managers and Certified Individuals
Transfer responsibilities to new individuals
Provide Senior Managers with oversight and ability to monitor their area of responsibility

How it benefits you:

Using a compliance management tool like the SM&CR module simplifies processes of accountability within regulated firms. The ability to assign Senior Management Function (SMF) responsibilities to individuals who can then approve and accept these provides firms with clear record of accountability and governance. Additionally, the module also offers functionality for a Fitness and Propriety questionnaire to support regular assessments of whether or not relevant Senior Managers and Certified Individuals are “fit and proper” for their roles. All available actions produce clear audit trails to demonstrate approvals and responsibilities to the regulator, bringing welcome ease to Senior Managers juggling multiple responsibilities.

The Compliance Perspective:

“While compliance management is often a complex undertaking, managing SMCR compliance does not have to be. Streamlining and centralising processes such as SMF and prescribed responsibilities allocations through dedicated software—instead of, for example, using assorted spreadsheets shared with staff—offers welcome simplicity and security for compliance officers.

This is especially valuable in the new world of work as companies increasingly adopt flexible, hybrid, or fully remote-working practices where reporting lines and responsibilities can become blurred. Staff can be kept up to date with current allocations and their approvals and acceptances can be tracked and recorded regardless of where they work.” – Simon Chapman, Associate Director at Complyport

Find out more about our SM&CR module and the rest of the ComplyPortal platform at: https://complyportal.uk/modules

About ComplyPortal:

First developed in 2011 by compliance professionals for compliance officers, ComplyPortal offers workflow, automation, and several modules to help firms with control and regulatory compliance monitoring.

ComplyPortal simplifies financial services regulatory compliance management on an easy-to-use cloud-based comprehensive compliance platform. It enables compliance officers, risk officers and senior management to keep track of their firm’s regulatory responsibilities and workflows. Our platform includes the following modules, among others:

Monitoring: a year-round schedule pre-populated with monitoring questionnaires to ease compliance processes.
Registers: lists controlled by the Compliance officer, but easy for staff to view.
Risk: map and control risk areas to effectively identify and manage risk for your firm.
eKYC solution: perform comprehensive searches, including client identity verification, document authenticity, and more for a comprehensive KYC and AML approach