DISPELLING WIDESPREAD MANUAL MYTH

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4 October 2022

Many financial firms mistakenly believe they must have expensive and laborious compliance manuals, when in fact, they aren’t an FCA requirement.

We are urging advisory firms to review their business processes and look at more cost-effective ways to maintain their policies and procedures.

B-Compliant director, Vicky Pearce, said: “It is a widely held belief that firms must have compliance manuals and we often find new clients panicking if they don’t, or worrying that the one they do have is out of date.

“Manuals are simply a compilation of policies and procedures. By bringing them together, they can be expensive to maintain, as well as difficult to use. When we begin work with a new firm, we look for ways to help that business streamline its compliance procedures and save money. If a manual is not being used, what is the point wasting time and resources in its creation?”

The FCA expects regulated firms to have adequate policies and procedures to ensure its managers and employees are compliant. It does not stipulate how this information must be presented.

Vicky added: “If you give staff a document with hundreds of pages, will they read it, understand it and adhere to it? The answer is likely to be ‘no’ and if so, you are not meeting your regulatory duties. We recommend having a well-managed suite of policies and procedures that are reviewed and updated in line with relevant changes. Ultimately, this saves our clients time and money and reduces errors or breaches of the guidelines.”

For more information about compliance manuals and the compilation of your policies and procedures, don’t hesitate to contact us on (0161) 521 8641 or email: info@b-compliant.co.uk