Regulatory Compliance Documentation

Your firm’s compliance Policies, Procedures, logs and any additional Documentation are known as Compliance Manuals. Your firm's Compliance Manual is an essential part of your firms’ compliance framework ensuring you are meeting the requirements not only set by the FCA but your internal standards.

Compliance Monitoring Plan

A Compliance Monitoring Plan (CMP) is used to identify, assess and react to potential and actual compliance breaches. It is a fundamental document that is integral to the FCA application and post-authorisation process.

A CMP must account for key compliance risks to a business and outline how a firm plans to mitigate these risks and who will be responsible for any actions taken to mitigate risks. For example, call monitoring, a standard method for compliance monitoring, will help to identify whether any compliance requirements are being met. If they are not being met, a firm is then able to act upon this to ensure future breaches are avoided. A CMP is a working document that should be amended and updated to reflect any newly identified risks or to recalibrate current risks and responsibilities.MEMA is well versed when it comes to the creation of Compliance Monitoring Plans. Due to our demonstrable knowledge and expertise, we are able to draft a complete and comprehensive CMP that is tailored to your firm and any proposed FCA activity.

Policies and Procedures

By applying to and being authorised by the FCA, a firm will be expected to have established effective policies and procedures that enable a firm to comply with relevant requirements. In some cases, i.e. depending on the proposed FCA activity and circumstances, applicants must submit a full suite of policies and procedures to the FCA as part of the application process. For others, the FCA may simply request these once an application has been submitted or may not request them at all. If an applicant is unable to demonstrate that they have effective policies and procedures, when requested by the FCA, an application for authorisation may be refused.

​It is therefore essential that Policies and Procedures are drafted and utilised as an authorised firm. MEMA has developed Policies and Procedures to enable firms to satisfy these requirements. Firms are reminded that Policies and Procedures should be maintained, updated or even created where new processes are established or where a firm becomes subject to new requirements e.g. as has been the case for many firms seeking to comply with the Senior Managers & Certification Regime which was introduced for all FCA regulated firms towards the end of 2019.

Compliance Registers and Logs

Firms must maintain adequate records. This means that efforts and actions undertaken to comply with relevant rules and requirements must be recorded. In some cases, registers and logs will serve as a means for documenting compliance breaches or the satisfaction of certain procedures as may be the case with a register that indicates completion of various monitoring requirements or registers that log breaches following completion of various monitoring requirements.

​As part of an applicant’s authorisation process or for those currently authorised, MEMA can provide relevant Registers and Logs that should be used to comply with this requirement i.e. to maintain adequate records.You will have peace of mind that you’re meeting your regulatory commitments through rigorous compliance monitoring.

How Can MEMA Help?

If you are seeking to apply to the FCA, MEMA can work with you throughout the course of the application process. This will include the provision of all Compliance Documentation and regulatory documentation that is otherwise required. For more information on how we can help with the authorisation process please see our FCA authorisation pageFor those who are navigating through the FCA application process but need only to establish constructive and effective policies and procedures, MEMA will seek to identify the documentation required that authorised firm would benefit firm and produce these in consideration of those requirements. For many authorised firms MEMA has produced a suite of documentation to comply with the Senior Managers & Certification Regime.

MEMA can review an authorised or applicant firm’s current or proposed compliance documentation and provide a gap analysis or advice and guidance regarding any proposed amendments.