Financial Services Authority (FSA) Compliance Consultancy

overview;
service offering;
approach
benefits
next steps

Overview

Any organisation's greatest asset is probably its reputation. To acquire a good one takes a long time and they can be lost in the 'blink of an eye' as we have seen in the past.

In the financial services market, there is a major risk that this major asset can be devalued or even lost, overnight, through adverse publicity, possibly causing severe or even terminal damage to your business and its share price. The FSA powers of investigation are comprehensive. The FSA Tribunals have the same authority as the High Court and are held in public, so the scope for reputational damage is considerable on account of a compliance failure.

Financial services organisations are simultaneously facing mounting cost pressures and increases in risk largely as a result of the increased burden of compliance and a number will not survive this joint threat.

Service Offering

Difficult times call for drastic and imaginative measures and BCRM has a range of flexible solutions and services that will enable your business to survive and thrive in this environment. These include:

advising and assisting Compliance Officers who lack compliance qualifications , skill or experience;
assisting in gaining FSA approval to operate;
assisting overstretched compliance departments by providing solutions tailored to your requirements and areas of greatest risk;
developing and implementing processes and procedures to address the new risks posed by the significant increase in the scope of money laundering offences;
developing 'Know Your Customer' training;
establishing compliance processes, procedures and documentation for start-ups;
performing risk assessments and assisting you manage and treat those risks in priority order;
strategic compliance covering areas (e.g. new products, new jurisdictions, restructuring, IT Governance, etc);

Approach

Using the BCRM approach to FSA compliance covers:

defining the scope of the FSA compliance project;
understanding the business;
determining relevant legislation and regulation applicable to the scope;
determining the effectiveness of current implemented controls;
produce a Gap Analysis report;
agree a way forward with the Client;
establish process flow and interaction within the business;
develop relevant processes and procedures or amend existing ones as required;
implementing and operating the compliance processes and procedures;
test the compliance processes and procedures;
monitoring and reviewing the compliance processes and procedures;
auditing the compliance processes and procedures;
continuous improvement of the compliance processes and procedures.

Benefits

The BCRM approach ensures compliance with FSA requirements by:

designing processes and procedures specific to your business;
developing and delivering relevant training for all your employees to meet their FSA obligations;
developing innovative solutions to address your compliance issues;
ensuring that processes and procedures for FSA compliance are documented and tested;
ensuring your Compliance Officers have the relevant competence to perform their duties in line with FSA requirements;
increasing customer confidence in your products and services;
managing and treating significant risks to reduce them to an acceptable level in line with risk appetite;
taking some of the burden off your overstretched Compliance Department;

Next Steps

BCRM has a number of other service offering, these are listed here;
BCRM is committed to providing a consistently high value service to our Clients;
Sian Watson, who remains personally 'hands-on' throughout the process, manages this process.
to understand how the BCRM suite of offerings can be used to transform your business, please contact us
we look forward to discussing your specific requirements, at your convenience;
whatever other type of consultancy you require, we can possibly offer a free Health Check.