Compliance
Protecting AR Members With Leading Compliance
Compliance is essential in commercial finance brokering to ensure a transparent and trustworthy industry.
It is the number one priority for The Fiducia Commercial Network and our team work relentlessly to protect members of the AR Network.
Former NAFCB Compliance Manager Erica Meredith heads The Fiducia Commercial Network team and works around the clock to ensure members of the Network are protected.
Upon joining the Network ARs will be provided with support material created by the Compliance team to support their work including a comprehensive AR Handbook, available on the AR Portal.
Compliance is important for several reasons including legal and regulatory requirements, maintaining ethical standards, risk management. professional reputation and client protection.
It is crucial to adhere to compliance to create a transparent and trustworthy industry that benefits both brokers and their clients.
Protecting ARs and their customers, working with complete transparency for the good of all
Compliance
Compliance Principals For Business
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) was established to look after the regulation of retail markets taking over, and improving upon, the underlying authorisation methods implemented by the FSA.
The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA2000) is the overriding law from which regulation has been derived.
It is the FCA who set in place the regulatory regime which we work under today. In effect brokers have two ‘routes to market’ either through becoming directly authorised or as an Appointed Representative of a duly authorised principle firm.
Members choose to become an Appointed Representative (AR) firm who derives their FCA authorisation from The Fiducia Network.
This is a formal arrangement and as such is recognised and governed by means of a legally binding contract.
The agreement is between The Fiducia Network (the Principle), and each individual Appointed Representative.
The procedures that ARs must follow as a condition of The Fiducia Network agreeing to accept regulatory responsibility for you as an Appointed Representative. They are in the ‘AR Handbook’ provided to each member.
It is designed to provide members with clear, unambiguous rules and guidance so that their firm may conduct its business in compliance with our network procedures and regulatory requirements.
Adhering to the network procedures will also assist ARs in complying with the FCA’s Principles for Business and Fair Treatment of Customers.
Compliance Guiding Principals
- Integrity – A firm must conduct its business with integrity.
- Skill, care and diligence – A firm must conduct its business with due skill, care and diligence.
- Management and control – A firm must take reasonable care to organise and control its affairs responsibly and effectively, with adequate risk management systems.
- Financial prudence – A firm must maintain adequate financial resources.
- Market conduct – A firm must observe proper standards of market conduct.
- Customers’ interests – A firm must pay due regard to the interests of its customers and treat them fairly.
- Communications with customers – A firm must pay due regard to the information needs of its customers, and communicate information to them in a way which is clear, fair and not misleading.
- Conflicts of interest – A firm must manage conflicts of interest fairly, both between itself and its customers and between a customer and another customer
- Customers: relationships of trust – A firm must take reasonable care to ensure the suitability of its advice and discretionary decisions for any customer who is entitled to rely upon its judgment.
- Customers’ assets – A firm must arrange adequate protection for customers’ assets when it is responsible for them.
- Relations with regulators – A firm must deal with its regulators in an open and cooperative way, and must disclose to the FCA appropriately anything relating to the firm of which the FCA would reasonably expect notice.
- Consumer Duty – A firm must act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers.
