The FCA Handbook and Relvant Legislation Flashcards
How many blocks is the FCA handbook broken down to?
9
Where were most of the content of the FCA hand book inherited from?
The FCAs predecessor the FSA
What is block 1 of the FCA handbook?
High Level Standards
Sets out the main standards that every regulated firm or approved person should be aware of.
How many sourcebooks make up block 1?
10
What are the 12 principles for business in block 1
1 Integrity
2 Skill care and diligence
3 Management and control (organise appropriately and minimise risk)
4 Financial prudence
5 Market conduct
6 Customers interest
7 Communications with customers (clear, fair, not misleading)
8 Conflicts of interest (should be avoided)
9 Customer trust (ensure reliabilty)
10 Client assets (protect them if held)
11 Relationship with regulators (open, honest, transparent)
12 Consumer principles (will eventually replace 6 & 7)
What are the 3 aims of principle 12?
What are the 4 outcomes?
Act in good faith
Avoid causing foreseeable harm
Enable and support retail customers to pursue their financial objectives
Communications
Products and services
Customer services,
Price and value.
Senior management of a firm should ensure that there are what?
Robust systems and controls to protect consumers.
Senior staff should have clearly defined and written down roles to perform in relation to this.
These depend on the size and complexity of the firm but should meet the common platform requirements.
What are the 10 common platform requirements?
General requirements
Employees and staff
Compliance
Risk control
Outsourcing
Record keeping
Conflict of interest.
Whistle blowing
Renumeration
Senior Managers Certification Regime
What is the rule about general requirements?
Businesses should be set up in an appropriate manner with the right management structures and clear reporting lines. People should know their role.
What is the rule about employment and staff?
Anyone working for a firm should have appropriate qualifications and experience to do their job.
What is the rule about compliance?
The firm should be set up to ensure that it meets its requirements under the regulator’s rules and that there is sufficient internal audit process to ensure this happens.
(Specifically covers anti-money laundering and how the company will meet its obligation to organised crime.
What is the rule about risk control?
There should be a robust process for measuring and controlling risk.
What is the rule about outsourcing?
Where outsourcing care should be taken to ensure this does not introduce extra layers of risk. Due diligence is required on all providers of outsourced services.
What is the rule about record keeping?
Records should be kept for appropriate length of time
What is the rule about conflict of interest?
Steps should be taken to ensure that any potential conflicts of interest are controlled and managed.
What rule is there about whistle blowing?
All staff should know how to whistle blow on bad practice and should have no fear of doing so.
What is the rule about remuneration?
Staff should not be remunerated in a manner that could be contrary to consumers’ interests or encourage taking risks.
How many points to the remuneration policy are there?
And what are the ones we should remember?
12
Aim to ensure that there are fair structures in place that don’t encourage anyone to take short-term risks for financial gain.
A significant number of bonuses should be deferred for a number of years, and performance related pay should be minimised.
Any remuneration code should be approved within the business and subject to scrutiny.
What is covered in the senior management certification regime?
The way that senior managers within the FCA regulated firms gain and maintain certification to perform their roles as well as scope of responsibility.
This replaced the approved pensions scheme.
What is covered in the code of conduct? (COCON)
The sets of codes for those subject to senior management and certification regime.
What is rule in Threshhold Conditions? (COND)
If you want to conduct regulated business, you have to hit certain requirements.
What are the requirements for conduct threshold (COND)
If the body seeking to operate is a corporate body registered in the UK, it must have a UK based Head Office and registered office. (Prevenents outside companies from setting up without a foot in and outside the regulator’s duristiction.)
The person must be in a position where the FCA can supervise them effectively. (This would mean having due regard to any potential conflicts of interest.
The firm must have an appropriate level of resources for the type of buisness they are seeking to transact.
Individuals running the firm must pass the ‘fit and proper’ test.
The persons business model must be appropriate. (Nothing in there that is a detriment to the consumer).
What is meant by person in the context of regulation?
Whoever the FCA is regulating so could be a company.
If you fail to meet the threshold conditions, what could happen?
You can have your right to opperate removed.
Part 4a permission.
What are the statements of principles and codes of practice? (APER)
The approved person should opperate with skill, care, and diligence.
The approved person should deal with the regulator in an open and honest way.
Anyone acting in a senior management role should take extra care to ensure that their firm meets the standards as well as themselves. This is an extra layer of personal responsibility.
What does APER apply to?
Firms that are not subject to the Senior Management and Certification Regime, basically representatives. Everyone else falls under the new regime and is subject to COCON instead.
What is a Fit and Proper Test for Approved Persons (FIT)
A test that checks if you are OK to work in the financial services.
I.e. form A for financial advisors checks criminal record, financial position, employment history, and other reasons you may not be safe to advise clients.
Who are the FIT tests performed by under the Senior Management and Certification Regime?
In-house. Covers anyone who opperates in an approved role or certain specified roles where they could do significant harm.
What does financial confidence and stability cover? (FINMAR)
Rules around the maintenance of financial stability and the measures introduced in connection with short selling after a number of incidents caused significant harm in relation to this practice.
Why is training and competence (TC) in Block 1?
The FCA elevated it to here because of how seriously they take it.
What is covered in general provisions (GEN)
You shouldn’t say you are authorised by the FCA unless you are.
If something happens and you need to breach FCA rules in an emergency, you can do that, but only for the length of that emergency and only if you do all you can to correct the issue.
All authorised firms must disclose their authorisation in the correct way. For an authorised firm, this is ‘authorised and regulated by the financial conduct authority.’ Other wordings apply where the firm is a representative or only involved in insurance mediation.
The FCA logo MUST NOT be used on a firm’s literature, and the key facts logo can only be used in the manner laid down by the rules.
What can firms not do?
Insure themselves against penalties from the regulator.
How is the FCA funded?
A levy is paid by regualted firms as set out in the fees (FEES) sourcebook.
The 3 types of fees are:
Application fees
Periodic fees
Special project fees
How are application fees handled?
Paid when seeking authorisation or carrying permissions.
Simplified in 2022, stating at £2500 and are grouped into blocks depending on size and complexity of application.
£25000 max fee
Variation of permissions generally charged at a minimum of £250 and 50% for major variations.
Fees are payable even if rejected.
How are periodic fees handled?
Paid annually by each firm.
The fee is determined by FCA block and firm size.
Ie Tariff rate and Tarif data
Tariff data increases with size of firm and higher risk activity.
Fees are finalised in May, and bills are received in June/July.
The FCA has a deal with primium credit for payment instalments.
What is the formula for calculating the periodic fee rate?
Period fee=tarif data x tarif rate.
How are special project fees handled?
If a project requires significant input from the regulator, it needs to be paid for as it is not factored i to the normal running cost of the FCA I.e a merger of two banks.
What is held in block 2 of the FCA handbook?
Prudential standards.
This covers financial management of the firms, including the amount of capital the firm will be required to hold. (Capital adaquacy)
The amount of capital a firm must hold is called capital resource requirment
What are most larger firms subject yo since leaving the EU?
Investment Firms Prudential Regime (IFPR) (replaced capital requirements directive)
This lays out the risk assessment and stress testing required to evidence capital adaquacy in the UK.
How many sourcebooks are in block 2?
6
What should be noted about the capital resource requirements
They will vary depending on the type of firm and the corresponding risk inadequate resources would pose.
What firms have the lowest CCR?
MiFID exempt firms.
What is covered under the MIFID prudential sourcebook? (MIFIDPRU)
Financial requirements for MIFID relevant firms that are subject to the new IFPR.
These look at:
credit risk
market risk
concentration risk
counter party risk
Liquidity
What is covered under the Mortgage/home finance firms and insurance intermediaries (MIPRI) source book?
Professional indemnity insurance and capital resource requirements for firms transacting home finance business or acting as general insurance intermediaries.
Minimum standards apply in respect of both areas.
What is covered in the interim prudential sourcebook for investment business (IFPRU-INV)
Adaquacy against liabilities and potential stresses that might come about in the future for non-MiFID investment firms.
What are the final 2 sourcebooks for block 2?
Prudential sourcebook for insurers (INSPRU)
Prudential sourcebook for friendly societies and insurers (IPRU-FSOC/IPRU-INS
What has MIFIDPRU generally been replaced by but might still exist?
GENPRU
What is covered in block 3
Buisness standards
What is covered by the conduct of business sorce book? (COBS)
Rules that govern and control the day-to-day work of financial advisors in the ‘life and pensions arena’
What were COBS under the FSA.
Conduct of businesses (COB) but were changed after including when MiFID requirements were added.
What is covered in the Insurace:conduct of buisness source book. (ICOBS)
Both general insurance and pure protection products. (Income protection, term insurance, and critical insurance)
What is the difference between the old ICOB and the new ICOBS.
ICOBS is far more principle based and high-level.
What goes ICOBS do?
Splits businesses into 3 groups and, where appropriate, both new businesses and renewals are treated with the same protection.
What are the 3 groups for ICOBS
Genral insurance - cars, motors, etc
Pure protection - term, income protection, critical
Payment protection - payment/mortgage protection insurance