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ESG – So what is it all about?
As the world of Financial Services grows more complex by the year, especially when you ...
FCA Business Plan 2021/22 – A Tech Focused Business Plan
The hotly anticipated FCA Business Plan 2021/22 was finally published on the FCA website on ...
The Future World Of Work – Why Personal Development Is Critical To Future Business Success – Part 2
Leading on from my last blog, which I was asked to write as part of ...
The Future World Of Work – Why Personal Development Is Critical To Future Business Success
As the world emerges into the post-Covid world, the Investment Association (IA) asked a number ...
SM&CR – Tick Box Exercise or Foundation for Cultural Change?
FCA solo regulated firms are now completing the transition of the Senior Managers and Certification ...
Trust and Consumer Protection
We often talk about gaining or earning someone’s trust, but the interesting thing about those ...
The FCA Walking their Talk
This may not have necessarily have hit your radar, but did you know that since 2016, the FCA has been ...
Innovation And Vulnerability – Can They Co-Exist?
My curiosity was piqued this week when I came across two speeches from the FCA ...
The FCA’s New Direction – Outcomes Focused Regulation
I think we can all agree that a crystal ball would be about the most ...
IAC-Singapore – From The Award-Winning Team At Worksmart
As stronger governance arrangements within organisations and the accountability of senior leaders becomes critical components ...
Predictions For 2021 – Automating SM&CR
Well, let’s start by saying that 2021 surely can’t be any more challenging than 2020?! ...
Predictions For 2021 – Conduct And Culture Change
Looking forward into 2021, I see further momentum building for the two major trends the ...
Predictions For 2021 – Technology
The last year has shown us several challenges in the areas of product development and ...
Predictions For 2021 – Regulation And RegTech
2020 was a tumultuous year for most, not least our Regulators. Firms were challenged by ...
Predictions For 2021 – IT and Data Security
In recent years we have seen an increasing focus by firms regarding their information security ...
When A Process Is Broke, Then It’s Definitely Time To Fix It
As I bring this series of guest blog posts for Worksmart to a close, I ...
Stopping Groundhog Day: The FCA’s Plans For Cultural Change
I’ve been in financial services for longer than I care to mention and to be ...
Everything You Do Tells The Regulator Something About Your Cultural Make Up!
For those regular visitors to our Website, they will know that we take a keen ...
Fairness And Consistency, The Hardy Perennial Of Complaints Handling
If you were to ask me, what are the two key concepts that businesses don’t ...
Time To Rethink How We Manage SM&CR?
We’ve talked about it for several years and now the final tranche of firms should ...
Fraud And Scams – The Growth Industry Of 2021
If ever there was a growth industry in 2020, it’s fraud. According to Experian, the ...
Implementing Technology Change – FCA Review
I read with interest the most recent report from the FCA on implementing technology, which ...
New Vulnerability In 2021
As we start to look forwards into 2021, we can’t talk about horizon scanning without ...
Consumer Credit’s Elephant Sized Problem!
I don’t think it’s any coincidence that I’m sat here writing a blog all about ...
SM&CR As A Journey – Are We There Yet?
On Thursday the 4th February, I was invited by the TISA team to speak at ...
Making Training & Competence (T&C) Work For You Post Certification
In response to significant customer interest, the Worksmart team ran a webinar on Tuesday 24th ...
2020 – Well That Wasn’t The Year We Expected, And I’m Not Talking About Covid!
Well, before any of us had even heard of Covid-19, those of us watching and ...
Living With SMCR And The Directory- What’s Challenging Firms Right Now?
In recent weeks, Worksmart co-presented webinars on SM&CR for two of our trade association partners. ...
A Wake-Up Call For Claims Management Companies (CMC)
The FCA took over responsibility for overseeing the activities of the claims management sector from ...
Conduct, Data & Competence – What’s Happening?
Certification, Conduct Rules Training, Directory Data and Conduct Rules Breach Reporting; are you ready and ...
“Home Working Is Likely To Increase The Risk Of Conduct Related Issues”
On Wednesday 17th June, 2020, Julie Pardy, Director of Regulation & Market Engagement (Worksmart) joined ...
Worksmart Scoop Four Major Awards
The team at Worksmart are delighted to announce that we have won in four categories ...
SM&CR, The Investment Association & The FCA
On a very hot and sunny Tuesday in June, I was delighted to be invited ...
Implementing Certification In Solo-Regulated Firms – The Challenges & Priorities
On Thursday 4th June, 2020, Julie Pardy, Director of Regulation & Market Engagement (Worksmart) joined ...
SM&CR professionals pivot for COVID-19, but how confident are they now?
On Thursday 28th May 2020, Philip Allen (Innovate Learn), Adrian Harvey (CEO, Elephants don’t forget) ...
PIMFA Virtual Fest – Thriving In Extraordinary Times
The world of work has changed beyond recognition for most of us over the last ...
#6 Avoiding Referrals To The Financial Ombudsman Service
In the sixth of our series of guest blogs on key issues for complaints handling, ...
Pointers For Call Centre Staff & Businesses Facing COVID-19
Flexibility Is Key Life is very different now from what it was just a few ...
#5 Achieving Consistency In Complaints Handling
In the fifth of our series of guest blogs on key issues for complaints handling, ...
#4 Are You Catching All Complaints?
In the fourth of our series of guest blogs on key issues for complaints handling, ...
#3 The Difference Between A Good & A Great Complaint Handler
In the third of our series of guest blogs on key issues for complaints handling ...
Polling Results Reveal Pressure At Our SM&CR Virtual Breakfast
On Tuesday 19th May, 2020, Marian Bloodworth (HR Lawyer, Kemp Little) and Julie Pardy, Emma ...
Smaller Firms – In The Shadows Or Under The Spotlight?
I’ve heard it said before “The FCA have got bigger fish to fry, they aren’t ...
How Firms Should Handle Complaints During Coronavirus
Never has operational resilience been more important 60% of the UK population has suddenly been ...
COVID-19, SM&CR And Regulatory flexibility!
Pandemic, Senior Manager Accountabilities and flexibility are not really a selection of words that anyone ...
#2 Complaints Handling. Meeting Consumer Expectations In A New Decade
In the second of our series of guest blogs on key issues for complaints handling ...
#1 The Complaints Regulatory Landscape In 2020 – Looking Back To Look Forward
In the first of our series of guest blogs on key issues for complaints handling, ...
The 5 Reasons Your Senior Manager Will Give You For Doing Nothing And How To Overcome Them
For solo-regulated firms, the SM&CR implementation date has arrived. We’re proud to have successfully prepared ...
Managing SM&CR In Recognise
Part of the City of London Group (COLG), Recognise was formed to provide financial services ...
How Moneybarn Developed Their Accredited Staff Induction Programme
Moneybarn began life in 1992 after recognising the need to help everyday people get the ...
The Do’s & Don’t’s Of Delegation
CONCON 4.2 SC1: “You must take reasonable steps to ensure that the business of the ...
Interesting Survey Results On The Industry’s Readiness For SM&CR…
We ran our first ever webinar on 30th September and this is what we learnt. ...
Employee Competence, Or Is That Knowledge & Competence Or Even Training & Competence?
KNOWLEDGE – “Facts, information and skills acquired through experience or education. The theoretical or practical ...
Rising To The Challenge Of The Certification Regime
‘Final call for SM&CR’ – Are you sure your preparations are taking you in the ...
FCA’s SMCR Stocktake Report
45 individuals interviewed across 15 Banking institutions In what has been described by the FCA ...
Is Your Certification Regime All Planned Out? – Part #2
It is always interesting to learn from those that have gone before. In 2015, when ...
Is Your Certification Regime All Planned Out? – Part #1
It is always interesting to learn from those that have gone before. In 2015, when ...
How Fit For Purpose Are Your T&C Arrangements? Part 3
Appropriate and effective competence frameworks have been a regulatory requirement in Financial Services since the ...
How Fit For Purpose Are Your T&C Arrangements – Part 1
Training & Competence (T&C) has been a regulatory requirement of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ...
SM&CR – Timelines & Component Parts | SMCR Software | Worksmart
This Blog seeks to introduce you to planning for the implementation of the Senior Managers ...
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