The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) was formed in 2013 following the Financial Services Act (2012) and replaced the Financial Services Authority (FSA). The introduction of the FCA included a new regulatory framework and a mission to ensure the stability of the UK’s financial markets along with regulated conduct of its financial services firms. The FCA operates as an independent, non-governmental organization.
The FCA has three primary objectives:
(1) Protect consumers
(2) Protect and augment the integrity of the U.K. financial system
(3) Promote healthy competition among financial services providers to support the interests of consumers
The FCA is granted the power to enforce its mandate through its ability to make and enforce rules and conduct investigations when necessary.
Seven Guidelines for FCA Compliance
FCA compliance is mandatory for all businesses. Ensuring FCA compliance for your business is a critical task that calls for an understanding of its guidelines.
The guidelines for FCA compliance include:
Communication Structure
Businesses are required to have effective communication channels in their organizations. And FCA regulators need to know how management decisions are conveyed to the organization. Per the FCA, all elements, procedures, and policies are important aspects of communication.
Observed Management Behavior
Communication from individual managers plays a critical role in guiding the behaviors of the other employees. But beyond just communications, practices such as corporate governance activities and ethics are critical aspects of FCA compliance and are considered by the regulators.
Staff Training
New methods and practices regarding FCA compliance may call for staff training. The organization’s management team should conduct regular training sessions to ensure that employees up to date on important information and changes. Ongoing training will refresh the skills and knowledge of staff members.
Client Responses
The feedback collected from clients is an asset for any business. How a company then handles and incorporated this feedback is important. Feedback from clients can help to identify deficiencies that needs to be improved as well as guidance on improving customer experiences. Per the FCA, management must ensure client responses are collected and instruct staff regarding how to effectively manage and respond to feedback.
Financial Promotions
The FCA requires that all financial promotions are clear and not in any way misleading to consumers. This applies to the promotion of loans, pensions and mortgages. The FCA demands that all financial promotions adhere to their marketing restrictions.
Record Keeping
Proper management of personnel and assessment records is another critical component of compliance as the FCA requires thorough record keeping to perform its supervisory tasks. These records should include documents pertaining to such areas as recruitment, training, competence, and supervision. The FCA advises businesses to maintain records for a minimum of five years before deleting or destroying them.
Third-Party Relations
Organizations must keep agreements pertaining to their work with third party suppliers. Gathering intelligence before engaging with third-party suppliers is required for compliance.
eLearning for FCA Compliance Training
Compliance training is frequently seen as boring as it often associated with lengthy classroom sessions, endless quizzes and tests, and numerous pages of dry content. But as technology continues to evolve, online learning or “eLearning” now provides solutions that are both engaging for staff members and more efficient for employers.
If your company is considering implementing eLearning for FCA compliance training, some of the benefits you can expect include:
Cost-Effectiveness
With eLearning, you are able to reduce or eliminate many of the costs associated with classroom-based training, such as travel, classroom/venue fees, on-site instructor fees, meal planning, and the distribution of printed learning materials.
Convenience
With eLearning, both employees and instructors can conduct their learning activities at a time and place that is convenient for them. All they need is an Internet connection. And with eLearning, there is no need to pull your employees away from their job duties as they can conduct their training activities after hours.
Self-Paced
eLearning allows your students to learn at a pace and in a manner that works for them. Important or complex content can be revisited as many times as the student requires before moving on to the next section.
Measurement
Many eLearning platforms provide tools for data capture and analysis, allowing you to measure and evaluate the performance of your learning programs. This information can be very valuable as you look to revise and improve your learning programs over time.
Communication and Collaboration
Online communication and messaging tools allow eLearners to easily and effectively communicate in either group or one-to-one formats. This supports a more powerful learning environment along with the ability to collect user input and feedback.
LMS Portals for FCA Compliance eLearning
LMS Portals provides a cloud-based platform for building and managing your own customized eLearning portal to support FCA compliance and other employee training initiatives. Our system allows for your own corporate branding and can be incorporated directly into your existing web infrastructure.
Contact us to get started today!
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