The Senior Managers & Certification Regime represents "one of the biggest seismic shifts" in a generation in the way advice companies are regulated.
Chris Davies, the founder of Model Office, told the FTAdviser Podcast the implementation of the regime would be similar to complying with the General Data Protection Regime last year, because it would represent a cultural shift for advice companies.
He said his company's research had found a third of advisers were still unaware of what the regime was and how they should comply with it.
Mr Davies said: "The difference with this particular issue – it is a bit like the GPDR last year – is that the SM&CR is probably one of the biggest seismic shifts in the regulatory space in a generation, certainly since I joined the industry back in 1990.
"And the reason why that is, is that it is very much about the firm and the people within the firm in the senior positions becoming the regulator.
"It is down to the firms and the people within those firms to get it right. So from that perspective it is a cultural issue and therefore the firms need as much possible time to get to grips with the issues, to start to put a plan in place and to implement that plan without taking the business off the road."
Mr Davies said the levels of accountability for senior roles within advice companies would change "dramatically" after the regime comes into effect in December and companies which assumed complying would be "a breeze" could be wrong.
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