The FCA has published Policy Statement 19/7 which sets out the final rules on the Directory, a new public register for checking the details of certain individuals working in financial services.
Whilst the FCA’s Financial Services Register (“FS Register”) will continue following the extension of the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (“SM&CR”) it will contain fewer individuals as only individuals for specified Senior Manager roles will continue to be approved by the FCA and appear on the FS Register.
Following feedback to FCA consultations, the FCA is introducing the new Directory. The FCA are introducing a new definition being “Directory Person”, which captures which persons will appear on the Directory. This definition includes, amongst others, “certification employees”.
Under SM&CR, firms have 12 months from when the regime comes into force to certify relevant employees. All firms (other than banks and insurers, to which an earlier date applies) can start submitting data for uploading to the Directory in relation to their certified staff from 9 December 2019. The deadline for uploading data is 9 December 2020.
The Directory will go live on 9 December 2020 for firms (other than banks and insurers which again will have an earlier date). Further details can be found in the Policy Statement.
https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/policy-statements/ps19-7-finalising-directory
