Reducing compliance risk starts with having robust systems and controls in place. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) expects firms to be able to demonstrate a proactive and ongoing approach to your compliance, as opposed to a once-a-year review of your policies and procedures.  

At Verve, our expert team helps firms reduce their compliance risk with a straightforward and easy-to-maintain outline, which becomes a bespoke and personalised approach, and adjusts to changing needs. Everything’s centrally managed through our in-house business management dashboard, Dextera, making compliance… whisper it… easy. 

Here, I’ve summarised that outline into a five-point framework. It’s a great start that all firms can follow to reduce their compliance risk. When you’re ready to develop your bespoke approach to minimising compliance risk for your firm, drop us a line. 

1. Create your compliance calendar 

A strong starting point is having a clear compliance calendar/compliance monitoring plan in place. This should set out details at firm level of what needs to be reviewed, tested or reported and when. Having your compliance monitoring scheduled over a rolling 12-month period helps to evidence how being and remaining compliant is embedded at the core of the firm. This also gives you the opportunity to adapt to any regulatory changes throughout the year.  

2. KPI is King 

Having robust Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) in place are key and help to ensure that advisers remain in line with firm process. A key example of this is building ongoing servicing of clients into advisers KPI’s. This helps to ensure that advisers are servicing clients in line with your service agreement, as well as ensuring the firms exposure to risk of being negligent to clients or any potential redress due is reduced.  

3. Check, check and check again 

One of the most important areas that should relate to KPIs is file check outcomes. File reviews are central to ensuring that advice is suitable, and disclosure documentation is compliant and accurate. If the majority of file checks are done in house, we suggest using an external firm to ‘check the checker’ as this additional layer of oversight helps to maintain high standards as well as adding objectivity to your monitoring process. Ensure you have a clear, documented process for advisers to follow when remedial actions are identified, with a system in place for tracking and confirming resolution.  

4.T&C 4eva 

Don’t overlook the importance of CPD tracking and annual competency testing for all relevant staff. Avoid leaving this till the end of the year, and instead schedule regular reviews to ensure that regular development is taking place. It’s also vital to diarise Statement of Professional Standing (SPS) expiry dates for all advisers. This helps ensure renewals are completed within the required 60-day window, keeping advisers authorised to continue giving regulated advice.  

5. Data first 

Your back-office system should also support compliance by providing clear workflows and ensuring consistent data entry. The regulator is consistently showing itself as being data led, meaning firm data is now more important than ever. That means the quality, consistency, and accessibility of your firm’s data is more important now than ever.   

By embedding these practices into your firm's day-to-day operations, you'll not only meet your regulatory obligations but also build a stronger, more resilient compliance culture.  

With the Dextera platform, managing compliance becomes part of your day-to-day firm business – and a positive experience, vs. the once-a-year panic many of our firms arrived here with. Check out our white paper, The Dawn of Positive Compliance, for more on that.  

Ready to chat all things compliance? We can’t wait! Say hi here. 

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