THE BVRLA has issued some useful help and guidance for leasing brokers meeting the compliance terms required for the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR).
From January 2020, the BVRLA said it would be monitoring compliance as part of its broker audit programme.
Five tips for SM&CR compliance
1 Stay up to date with FCA permissions
If brokers have the incorrect Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) permissions, they may automatically consider themselves under the incorrect tier for the SM&CR. Where members are unsure on whether their FCA permissions are correct, they should contact the FCA or the BVRLA Compliance team to discuss this. This should be an ongoing exercise and FCA Permissions should be reviewed as part of Compliance Monitoring in case of any changes to business activity.
2 Ensure required Prescribed Responsibilities for their firm type are allocated among Senior Managers
If you’re confused by this, the BVRLA has produced a factsheet. Click here for the BVRLA’s SM&CR Factsheet.
3 Ensure procedures are in place to notify the FCA of changes to Statements of Responsibilities
From December 09, any Approved Persons registered with the FCA for an SM&CR firm will have been converted to the new regime. This does not mean that there is no need for ongoing monitoring; firms should ensure that the conversions have been correctly implemented and that any additional Senior Managers to be added under the new regime are submitted to the FCA. Firms should also ensure that procedures are in place for where Statements of Responsibilities for these individuals have any significant change.
4 Train Senior Managers and Certification staff on the Conduct Rules and put in place a breach notification procedure
Ensure all relevant staff are correctly trained in the conduct rules. Firms will also be required to have in place a breach notification procedure.
5 Prepare for ongoing reviews of Senior Managers and Certification staff
Procedures should be in place for the annual review of Statements of Responsibility and annual fit and proper reviews of Senior Managers, Non-executive Directors and Certification staff. These reviews should be documented and logged.
Further information can be found in the BVRLA blog from Steve Bloor, technical director at Consumer Credit Advisory Services, who delivers member SM&CR training
Ralph Morton is the leading journalist in the leasing broker sector and editor of Broker News, the website which provides information and news for BVRLA-registered leasing brokers. He also writes extensively on the fleet and leasing market in both the UK and Europe.
