On Monday (5 August) the FCA published its Senior Managers and Certification Regime Banking Stocktake Report detailing the findings of their review into the ?embedding of the Senior Managers and Certification Regime in the banking sector?. Three years on from its implementation it provides a good opportunity to consider what it has achieved.

The FCA found that banks and building societies had worked hard to implement the regime and are committed to embedding it fully in the way they work. UK Finance supports this observation. The introduction of the regime represented a massive, but justifiable effort on the part of industry, which is paying dividends in terms of improved conversations with colleagues about culture, promoting appropriate behaviours, creating a better environment of healthy challenge and openness, and underscoring the importance of individual accountability in their firms.

The report notes that firms have found Management Responsibility Maps (MRMs) helpful in ensuring every senior manager understands what is expected of them and that there are no overlaps or, more importantly, underlaps, in who is responsible for what. UK Finance agrees that MRMs are immensely useful, but also believes that a more measured approach which doesn't require each and every MRM change to be notified to the FCA at once would be a more proportionate approach.

The report identified a concern amongst senior managers about the meaning of ?reasonable steps? in the context of their day-to-day activities. Further engagement with the FCA about what their expectations are in relation to reasonable steps, especially what reasonable steps firms should have in place would be helpful. Where the FCA has concluded enforcement action against individuals who it finds have not taken reasonable steps, the relevant enforcement notice must be clear about the behavioural shortcomings it has identified and provide examples of how those shortcomings could have been avoided through better reasonable steps.

Finally, the FCA's report noted different approaches to the identification of Conduct Rule breaches and, by extension, their reporting, both to the regulator and in the necessary regulatory references that are supplied when an employee moves from one firm to the other. UK Finance agrees with this. Further FCA guidance on the conduct rule breach reporting obligation would help to ensure a consistency of approach across firms, given the impact a ?bad report? could have on an individual's future career, or lack of it, in financial services. It is important to understand too that whilst the five Conduct Rules apply to nearly all employees of a bank their relative importance to the individual depends on the role they are undertaking, highlighting the need for tailored Conduct Rule training by firms of their staff.

UK Finance has carried out its own survey on the impact of the SMCR and the findings will be shared at the upcoming SMCR Conference: The View From Industry, hosted by Ashurst LLP, on Tuesday 10 September. The event will act as an advisory and benchmarking session for both members and those now in scope. Tickets are available here.