FCA / PRA skilled person reviews (Section 166)
Expecting a skilled person review under s166 of FSMA? You’re in safe hands.
Skilled person powers enable the FCA / PRA to subject firms to an independent review. The consequences of the review can be serious and that’s why you need to think carefully about who you choose as skilled person and who you have as an advisor.
Our tried and tested methodologies focus on outcomes and are built on clearly understanding stakeholder needs and holding these at the core of our work. But they only work because we always customise them to you; taking the time to understand your strategy, appetite and organisiation.
We are immensely proud of the work we have done as the skilled person and the way we have supported firms through the process. It’s some of the most rewarding work we do.
Whether as skilled person or firm side support, the key features of our approach are:
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Proportionality
Your framework needs to be proportionate to the risks you face. We’re not here to force you to be “industry leading” or to gold plate your controls. We’ll always take your risks and risk appetite into account whilst focusing on what is required and what might be “nice to have”.
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Transparency
We’ll be honest and open with you from start to finish. Whether that be our capacity and capability to do the work or because we have difficult messages to deliver - you’ll be told in an open, constructive and supportive manner.
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Skill
We don’t take skilled person reviews lightly - they’re serious and can have material consequences. All of our team are highly experienced in delivering skilled person reviews. You’ll never be given team members who aren’t well versed in the regulatory requirements and expectations or who don’t understand the sector that you work in.
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Purpose
Our philosophy is purpose. This enables us to step back from the detail and look at what the regulations are actually trying to achieve, or to work with you on why you do certain things in certain ways. It also weds us to your long term goals, a critical part of our relationship with you.
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Value
Just as our reviews and recommendations need to be proportionate to each firm we work with, so do our costs. The FCA do not see skilled person reviews as a backdoor way for punishing firms financially - and neither do we. Our rates for doing skilled person work are significantly reduced from our standard advisory rates. From experience we feel these rates are highly competitive with other firms on the FCA panels.
S166 capabilities: the FCA have appointed Avyse Partners to the following skilled person Lots:
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The skilled person will carry out an assessment of whether a firm’s leadership has real purpose and effective governance arrangements to enable it to mitigate potential harm to its customers and the markets. Click here to read more about Lot B.
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The skilled person will carry out an assessment of whether a firm has the requisite risk management framework and control arrangements in place to: pre-empt; identify; and mitigate risks in their business model - including their approach to and execution of outsourcing arrangements. Click here to read more about Lot C.
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The skilled person will assess a firm’s systems and controls framework relative to the area of harm identified. This could be across any part of the business model from design, distribution, and marketing through to quality of sales practices, advice and collections and arrears handling. Click here to read more about Lot D.
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The skilled person will assess all or part of a firm’s financial crime systems and controls effectiveness. Reviews may include anti-money laundering, anti-bribery and corruption, sanctions and market abuse. Click here to read more about Lot E.
Firm side support.
When you’re under a section 166 you’re going to face extensive scrutiny and a significant pull on management time and attention. And that’s why you need the best advisors working with you. Some of the ways we’ve helped firms in similar situations include:
Developing a credible plan – you need to show that you’re in control, and that means you need a clear plan. We can help you develop a plan which will stand up to scrutiny, by being comprehensive but also achievable.
Programme / project support – saving you time by doing the heavy lifting for you. The process of gathering and providing documentation, data and information can be an enormous process. You don’t want to send anything out without knowing what’s in it. You also need to manage your internal response, co-ordinate efforts and stakeholders, reporting, manage sign-offs and internal QA processes. Our team do the leg work, letting you make the decisions whilst keeping enough focus on BAU.
Getting ahead of the review – if you know the issues before the skilled person finds them it can put you in a much stronger position. We can rapidly deploy diagnostic reviews so that you already know what’s likely to be found and can incorporate it into your plan.
Advisory and assurance to support your work – as regulatory experts we can provide the answers where you need them. You might want help making a policy decision, interpreting regulation, or conducting assurance over something you’ve delivered. We’ll help you achieve the right outcomes so that the skilled person review is as pain free as possible.
Navigating the process – an external pair of eyes can really help keep things in perspective. Knowing when to push back, what’s reasonable and how to deal with the regulator or the skilled person are judgement calls best made on objective assessments.