The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ) revealed today that will be replacing its existing Financial Services Register with an enhanced Financial Services Register later this month, on July 27. It will then add a directory of certified and assessed persons to the Register later this year, according to the announcement.
The FCA explained that the enhanced Register will have a new look and include improvements it has made in response to user feedback. The changes will make it easier to find and understand information on the Register. More details will be provided at the launch, according to the FCA.
“Firms will need to update any links they have to pages on the current Financial Services Register, other than those to the homepage, once the enhanced Register launches. All current links will be redirected to the enhanced Register’s homepage. The existing Financial Services Register will cease to be available from 6pm on Friday 24 July so that work can take place over the weekend to make the enhanced Register ready for the start of business on Monday 27 July”, the FCA noted.
Under the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR), the regulator committed to publishing and maintaining a directory of certified and assessed persons on the Financial Services Register, so consumers and professionals can check details of key individuals working in financial services.
The FCA stated it had planned to publish the directory persons information in March this year. Having already announced a delay to this, it now intends to publish it later this year.
Covid-19 impact
The delay is partly due to the impact of Covid-19 and the additional burden this would have placed on firms, according to the FCA.
The regulator added that it has also experienced operational challenges when processing some bulk data file submissions from dual regulated firms at peak periods.
“We want to allow enough time for us to work with firms so that all data submitted is accurately represented when published”, it said.
Banks, building societies, credit unions and insurance companies can, if they wish, continue to update the information on their past and present certified employees for inclusion in the directory when it launches later this year.
The FCA’s directory of certified and assessed persons page explains how to do this. However, due to the delay some firms may wish to wait to submit their data once we have confirmed a publication date. The regulator said it will contact firms with any important updates and will provide them with advance notice before we publish the data.
“We recently announced that we’re proposing to extend the previous deadline of 9 December 2020 for solo-regulated firms to submit information about Directory Persons to the Register to 31 March 2021. When they have been submitted, we will still publish details of certified employees of solo firms starting from 9 December 2020 on the Financial Services Register. Where solo-regulated firms are able to provide this information before March 2021, we encourage them to do so,” the FCA stated.
