Towards the end of 2020, the FCA updated the FCA register to incorporate correctly submitted Directory entries for certified individuals. The original Directory application completion date of 9 December 2020 has been extended to 31 March 2021 to acknowledge the challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic. By this date you must complete the initial certification of all relevant staff and submit all relevant information on Directory Persons.
A key part of how the FCA supervises regulated firms is through their submission of various regulatory returns. These returns cover a variety of areas including financial information, ownership details, areas of business activity, approved persons and complaints.
We would like to remind you of the new requirements being implemented on 1 February 2021 following the FCA’s Retirement Outcomes Review in June 2018. While the changes mainly apply to providers of pension products, there are implications for advisers regarding considering available options as part of their suitability assessment when making a recommendation to a client about investing funds in their capped or flexi-access drawdown pension.
Our Compliance Helpdesk is always happy to help firms complete their GABRIEL returns and we aim to respond to all GABRIEL check requests in a timely way. Requests are typically processed in order of receipt.
Many Advisory threesixty clients have an accounting year-end date of 31st December and will therefore be obliged to complete their next GABRIEL return by 12 February 2021 (although please refer to your GABRIEL schedule for your own submission deadline as it may differ from this date).
The SM&CR will be extended to all FCA regulated firms from 9 December 2019. One of the consequences of this is that only individuals approved for specified senior manager functions (SMFs) will be included on the existing financial services register (FS Register).
The UK left the EU on 31 January 2020 with a Withdrawal Agreement. It has now entered a transition period which is due to operate until 31 December 2020. During the transition period, EU law will continue to apply in the UK. New EU legislation that takes effect before the end of the transition period will also apply to the UK.
From today (1 October 2020) changes to the FCA’s rules and guidance on pension transfer advice come into force.
These changes include:
Clients of threesixty enjoy full access to our online resources.
To talk to us about any of the topics mentioned here, or to find out more about threesixty and our breadth of services, please call 03707 360 360.
Alternatively email talktous@threesixtyservices.co.uk for more information.