The size of the FCA Handbook and its rules has been reported to have been growing at an average of 10% per year. Plus EU rules now impact separately and directly. It is therefore a struggle, not just for new start-ups, but even large established financial investment businesses that have dedicated compliance teams, to keep up to speed with their regulatory requirements.

Trading Compliance Limited can assist and work with your senior management and internal compliance function to ensure that your firm complies with all the rules and regulations that apply. Our expert and value added business advice can help guide you through the complexities of such regulation with a range of services including:

  • Ongoing compliance support
  • Financial resource calculations and reporting
  • The establishment of your own internal compliance function/department
  • Training and mentoring your senior management and compliance staff
  • Operational Compliance
  • Financial Promotions Approval And Vetting
  • Best Execution
  • Treating Customers Fairly
  • Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery/Data Security
Financial Resources calculation and reporting

Assisting firms with the preparation and submission of a range of periodic financial reports to the FCA, including:

  • REP001 Close Links Reports
  • REP002 Controllers Reports
  • COR001 COREP Own Funds and Leverage
  • FSA001/2 Balance Sheet and Income Statements
  • Complaints Returns DISP 1 Ann 1R
  • FSA019 Pillar 2 Information
  • NGP003 Annual Report and Accounts
  • FSA039 Client money and client assets
  • CASS submissions
The establishment of your own internal compliance function/department

Trading Compliance has extensive experience of establishing and running compliance functions for firms within the industry and we can help establish new or strengthen existing ones. We can devise the structure and work processes of the compliance function as well as source and train appropriate staff.

Training and mentoring your senior management and compliance staff

Trading Compliance can keep your senior management and compliance staff up to speed and educated as to their requirements under financial regulations, including

  • Training in new rules and their impact on your firm
  • Seminars on new procedures being implemented in your firm to deal with regulatory needs
  • Preparation for directors, management and senior personnel for programmed regulatory visits or inspections.
Operational Compliance

We emphasise the ‘Trading’ in Trading Compliance Limited having extensive experience on the firm’s side of operations and knowing that the whole aim of a business is to be viable and generate revenues. We can therefore give advice and input on your general operations on how you can reduce the regulatory burden as much as possible, ensure you comply and can get on with running your business, and where possible how you can use regulation to your advantage in enhancing business.

Financial Promotions Approval And Vetting

Firms need to have full control of their marketing material and financial promotions, including website content, to ensure that all the information given to its customers complies with the need for clarity of information of the products on offer. We can help vet all content to ensure that the required information is included and that your content meets the necessary standards that the regulator will be seeking from you. We can advise you on placing and prominence of risk warnings and required wording for status disclosures etc.

Complaints Handling

We can first assist you in reviewing your business offering to clients to give advice as to where adjustments could be necessary to reduce the likelihood of a complaint or to make it unlikely that any actual complaint would be sustainable. Where you do receive a complaint we can help ensure that you have the correct procedures in place to ensure that it is dealt with in accordance to the rules. We can do periodic assessments of your complaints handling and ensure that you adopt best practice in terms of management information and root-cause analysis.

Best Execution
“Best execution is not just a price, it’s a process”

Under MiFID, all firms are required to put order execution policies in place designed to obtain the best possible result for clients. FCA have identified a number of shortcomings in most firms approach to best execution in a recent Thematic Review. Trading Compliance can help you to identify and rectify those shortcomings, and put in place detailed and summary Order Execution Policies to meet with regulatory requirements. Our consultants have carried out a number of reviews at firms, and know what to look for and how best to approach this issue.

Treating Customers Fairly

Although the FCA has ceased carrying out specific TCF visits on firms, they still regard it as highly important and expect the principles of TCF to be embedded in firms’ operations. In all communications and reviews and visits to firms the regulator will always be looking to see evidence of a strong TCF culture within every aspect of the firm and if they fail to get such an impression from a communication, meeting or visit they will certainly examine the firm in more detail.
We can assist you to ensure that

  • You will be able to demonstrate to the regulators a clear culture of TCF within your firm;
  • Your senior management are fully aware that TCF is their responsibility and that there is clear evidence of their full involvement and support for TCF;
  • Your senior management and staff are competent in their roles to enable the appropriate level of service to clients with staff being encouraged to develop their competences further;
  • Your products are appropriately designed for your target market and perform according to the expectations given;
  • Your marketing material is clear, fair, not misleading, and likely to be understood easily by those reading it;
  • That you are providing customers with all the appropriate information they should receive and it and all your marketing material is clear fair, not misleading and likely to be understood easily by those reading it;
  • Your service meets the expectations created;
  • A full TCF review is carried out and reported to senior management at least annually including a gap analysis.
Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery/Data Security

Having worked extensively on both sides of the industry, Trading Compliance are experienced in identifying the key risks that face your business in the event of a disruption and can help you put in place robust business continuity provisions and procedures. We can advise you on best practice in terms of data security and data protection processes to ensure you meet both FCA guidelines and industry best practice.
Please contact us for further information.

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