New FCA Governance Guides for Regulated Firm Boards
Our sister practice Exec Capital — which specialises in C-suite and board-level executive search, including an extensive specialism in senior appointments at FCA-regulated firms — has published a significant new series of Knowledge Centre guides covering the regulatory framework for board and senior management function …
SUP 15: What Firms Must Notify the FCA and When
SUP 15 is the FCA’s notification framework — the chapter of the Supervision Manual that sets out what regulated firms must tell the FCA, on what basis and by when. Getting SUP 15 notifications right is a core compliance obligation. Getting them wrong — or …
FCA Perimeter: When Unauthorised Activity Triggers Risk
The regulatory perimeter is the boundary between activities that require FCA authorisation and those that do not. For businesses operating near that boundary — whether through deliberate product design, rapid growth or genuine uncertainty about the applicable rules — crossing it without authorisation creates serious …
Principle 11: What the FCA’s Disclosure Obligation Requires
Principle 11 creates one of the FCA’s most open-ended but consequential obligations: the duty to deal with the regulator in an open and cooperative way and to disclose anything of which the FCA would reasonably expect notice. Understanding what this means in practice — and …
SYSC 4: How the FCA Expects Governance to Be Structured
SYSC 4 is the chapter of the FCA’s Senior Management Arrangements, Systems and Controls sourcebook that sets out how the FCA expects regulated firms to govern themselves. It is not a bureaucratic checklist — it is the FCA’s articulation of what effective governance actually looks …
FCA Gateway: What a Strong CEO and Chair Statement Needs
The CEO and Chair Statements are the FCA’s window into whether the firm’s leadership genuinely understands its regulatory obligations — or whether it is relying on a compliance function and legal advisers to navigate a process the senior management have not engaged with themselves. As …
Variation of Permission: When You Need One and How to Apply
Varying a Part 4A permission is one of the most common post-authorisation regulatory steps for growing FCA-regulated firms — and one of the most frequently misunderstood. Getting it right means understanding which activities actually require a VoP and submitting a well-prepared application. A Variation of …
FCA Section 55 Cancellation: Triggers and How to Respond
A Section 55 cancellation is one of the most serious regulatory actions the FCA can take — it removes the firm’s permission to carry on regulated activities. Understanding what triggers it, how the process unfolds, and what options are available is essential for any regulated …
FCA Application Timelines: Realistic Expectations for 2026
The FCA’s statutory six-month deadline is the ceiling, not the expectation. In 2026, most well-prepared applications from straightforward firm types are determined in three to four months. Applications with gaps, novel business models, or incomplete SMF submissions routinely run to five or six months — …
From TCF to Consumer Duty: What Changed in the Obligation
Treating Customers Fairly and Consumer Duty cover much of the same ground. But the differences in how each obligation operates — in governance, evidencing, enforcement and the standard of outcome expected — are material. Firms that treat Consumer Duty as TCF with a new name …
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