Your IndustryDec 28 2017

Pimfa pushes for senior managers extension for advisers

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Pimfa pushes for senior managers extension for advisers

The financial advice trade body has said it is pushing to have the timeline for the introduction of the senior managers regime extended.

Liz Field, chief executive of the Personal Investment Management and Financial Advice Association, said advisers already had a lot on their plates with the introduction of Mifid II and the General Data Protection Regulation.

She said: "In recognition of the heavy regulatory burden firms are under we lobbied for a change in the timeline for rolling out the Senior Managers Regime with FCA and this will definitely be an area of concentrated work in 2018."

Earlier this year the FCA published plans for how the senior managers regime will be extended to the whole of the financial services sector.

The regulator has not yet set a date for when the rules will commence but it expects the regime to come into effect in mid-to-late 2019.

Under the regime, anyone who holds a senior management function at an advice firm will need to be approved by the FCA and every senior manager will need to fill out a statement of responsibilities explaining what they are responsible for.

Ms Field also highlighted a number of Pimfa's successes, saying a number of the trade body's proposals were adopted, including on Mifid II and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme levy.

She said: "We were particularly pleased to see the FCA change the rules on client identification following our lobbying, so that firms can use clients’ National Insurance numbers instead of passports and that firms using third-party algorithms to receive and transmit orders to the same third party are not caught by algorithmic trading rules.

"For best execution rules the FCA agreed with the reporting protocols we established in respect of the reporting of bulk orders alongside agreement for proportionality in product governance when it comes to data flows – highlighting there is no negative market for simple, mass market products, so no reporting needed.

"Something which exercises both personal investment managers and financial advisers is the FSCS levy and we were delighted that our strong lobbying has seen the stated intent that product providers will contribute 25 per cent towards the levy, thus reducing the overall size of the levy cost to our members."

She said: "I think most people would agree that one can’t talk about this year without the 'B' word inevitably coming up in conversation.

"Following the UK vote to leave the European Union on 23 June last year, we have seen a sustained period of uncertainty as the spectre of Brexit looms ever closer.

"This year, after many meetings with HM Treasury, the Department for Exiting the European Union and collective industry work, we were pleased to see the three-phase approach to the Brexit process we launched in September picked up by the Bank of England and FCA, and later by the government in speeches and policy statements.

"Then, as now, we continued to argue that Brexit will require a transition period of at least two years plus continued access to the widest possible pool of skilled labour from all over the world, including the EU, so that there is minimum market disruption to such a vital industry and its retail clients."

damian.fantato@ft.com