London, UK, 7 October, 2019 – SureCloud, a supplier of cloud-based Integrated Risk Management (IRM) applications and cybersecurity services, has today announced the launch of its SMCR solution, which helps FCA regulated organisations to understand, manage and document their compliance obligations with the Senior Managers & Certification Regime (SMCR) framework.

The SMCR, which aims to increase the personal accountability of senior people in the financial services industry, has been in place since 2016. It is due to be extended in December 2019 to cover all FCA Solo-Regulated firms - an additional 50,000 businesses. These firms will need to quickly assess their governance and compliance management facilities and determine how these would need to adapt to address the requirements set out under the SMCR framework.

The framework currently covers 350 of the largest, most complex, or riskiest FCA regulated firms such as banks, building societies, credit unions, investment firms and UK branches of foreign banks. While the regime aims to increase the accountability of senior managers and certified practitioners, it requires all personnel in applicable organisations to undergo some training which will need to be recorded and evidenced.   

Alex Brown, Director of Product at SureCloud said: “Whether already obliged to comply with SMCR or covered for the first time, the processes for complying with SMCR is time consuming, and can be made even more so if it is approached haphazardly. It is crucial that the regime is tackled with a clean, organised framework that demonstrates awareness of risk and careful compliance by senior managers.”

He continued, “To combat these challenges, we are pleased to announce the general availability of our SMCR solution, which will help FCA regulated firms to easily embed best practice, processes, and workflows into their wider Governance frameworks and HR processes.”

SureCloud’s SMCR software allows users to:

• Quickly assess how SMCR will apply to each part of the organisation 

• View recommended Roles, Functions and Prescribed Responsibilities applicable to your organisation

• Embed the processes of assessment, certification, and authorisation into your existing workflow

• Roll-out and clearly demonstrate individual employee attestation against each and every conduct rule, including custom rules for each organisation

• Record reasonable steps and decisions against operational risks, controls, incidents, audits etc, from any of SureCloud’s supporting Integrated Risk Management (IRM) solutions.

"It is crucial that the regime is tackled with a clean, organised framework that demonstrates awareness of risk and careful compliance by senior managers."
Alex Brown, Director of Product at SureCloud

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