Expert FCA Compliance Consultants

Comprehensive FCA Compliance Services

Struggling to decipher complex FCA regulations? Our FCA Compliance Consultants understand your challenges and deliver tailored support to simplify your regulatory journey. Let us handle the complexities while you focus on growing your business. Compliance is our business - we understand it is only part of yours.

Meeting your responsibilities can be a challenge in a heavily regulated industry, especially when it comes to compliance requirements. Regardless of the size and shape of your business, you need to be comfortable that all your bases are covered.

Whether you need support for a single project or ongoing mentoring, our 20+ years experience as FCA compliance consultants will ensure that your compliance operations are simple, efficient and more thorough than ever before, giving you complete peace of mind.

Most clients choose our Consultant-led delivery service for its personal approach. With this service your dedicated FCA compliance consultant will initially get to know your business so they can develop a bespoke Compliance Monitoring Programme. They will guide you through the different areas of regulatory compliance with a view to strengthening and protecting your organisation.

They will schedule meetings throughout the year giving you the confidence that everything is in hand as well as being available for you in between meetings to handle any queries you may have.

One of the key areas of frustration that our clients have is around FCA RegData and FCA Connect systems. To support you, your FCA compliance consultant will be a registered user of both these systems and work you as and when applications/reports are due to ensure that they are submitted cleanly and on time.

The service includes ongoing compliance with a chosen number of consultancy hours per annum (usually 28 but can be more or less) which can be used in whatever way works best for your organisation.

If you would like information or would like to speak to one of our FCA compliance consultants, please call us on 01892 539600 or email enquiries to us at: enquiries(at)insurancecompliance.co.uk

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Bespoke FCA Compliance Support

Occasionally, an FCA regulated business requires additional support. This can be due to a change in business model, staffing or new regulatory responsibility placing demands on existing resources. In these situations, Insurance Compliance Services can help organisations to scope the additional FCA compliance support needed and deliver, sometimes very quickly, a bespoke piece of work to fill demand. Examples of work we may be asked to do include:

  • Consumer Duty Implementation Plan
  • Due diligence for acquisitions
  • On-boarding of Appointed Representatives (AR) and creation of an AR monitoring plan
  • Full/focussed audits of FCA regulations as they apply to the organisations business model
  • Client file reviews
  • Risk assessments
  • Client money handling review/training
  • SMCR/Conduct Risk/Governance training

ICS FCA Compliance Consultants

Our FCA Compliance support includes:

  • An initial review meeting
  • A locally-based dedicated FCA compliance consultant*
  • Selected number of hours support a year which can be delivered onsite or remotely as required
  • Access to the Compliance Hub**
  • Hot TopICS, a regular compliance update with specific relevant actions
  • Stop Press, a round up of industry developments
  • One free place at regulatory workshops or webinars

*We cover most of the UK but where we do not have a ‘local’ consultant we can effectively deliver services remotely.
** The Compliance Hub is a one-stop-shop for compliance information, including:

  • A compliance manual providing practical advice and guidance
  • Over 100 downloadable documents, forms and templates
  • Glossary, FAQ and useful links
  • Hot TopICS compliance updates
  • Stop Press industry round ups

You’ll find it easy to find the information you need regarding complex regulations using the comprehensive search facility and by following links between FAQs/updates and the relevant sections of the manual.

Make an Enquiry

If you have any questions about FCA compliance, or would like to make an enquiry to arrange a chat with one of our FCA Compliance Consultants, please complete the form below.

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FCA RegData and FCA Connect

FCA RegData

RegData is the FCA data collection platform for gathering regulatory data from firms. This can be on a wide range of areas such as:

  • Financial reports eg balance sheet, P&L, capital resources and PII
  • Staff Training & Competence
  • Complaints
  • Client money handling
  • Meeting FCA threshold conditions
  • Consumer sales figures eg gwp
  • General insurance pricing eg senior manager attestation, pricing information and value measures
  • Staff subject to disciplinary action
  • Insurance and consumer credit income data needed for FCA fees

FCA Connect

Connect is the online system that you use to submit applications and notifications for:

  • Approved persons
  • Appointed representatives
  • Cancellations of firm authorisation or registration
  • Change in control notifications (if your firm is only regulated by the FCA)
  • Firm details and attestation
  • Sensitive business names
  • Variation of permission
  • Waivers
  • Directory persons notifications
  • SMCR Statement of Responsibilities changes

How Does ICS Support Firms with RegData and Connect?

Your dedicated FCA compliance consultant can be added by you as a user for these platforms. Thereafter the consultant and the wider Insurance Compliance Services team will support the completion of all required data on these platforms and ensure that the submissions are made accurately. We can also support clients with any subsequent queries that the FCA might have regarding RegData and Connect submissions.

This rarely happens with RegData but when it does it is largely because the regulated firm has experienced a significant variance in income when compared to previous RegData returns. We help our clients to provide narrative around such queries and in most cases prevent them from happening by ensuring our clients update the FCA in advance when their business plan changes.

It can happen more frequently with Connect now the FCA takes a more granular and forensic view with regard to applications, particularly when adding new Approved Persons, asking for additional permitted activities and with changes in control. Insurance Compliance Services has 18 years of supporting firms with these applications and can often predict the areas of focus for the FCA case handlers and try to prepare and pre-empt them.

If would information about how our FCA Compliance Consultants can help, please call us on 01892 539600 or email enquiries to us at: enquiries(at)insurancecompliance.co.uk

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FAQ's

Most regulatory compliance support companies charge by the hour or by the day. Some may have fixed cost offerings such as a compliance manual/portal, bulletins etc but the variable cost is the time delivered by the consultant. Before recruiting a consultant you should have a basic understanding of what support you want them to provide so you can work with them to agree the time you need and then they can calculate the cost from there.

This can vary on a number of factors eg where in the UK you are based, whether you want your consultant to visit you in your office or are prepared to see them virtually, what level of technical support you need, whether you want a small local firm or a medium to large UK wide firm, the complexity of your business model etc

If you are a small firm, outside of London, happy with remote support (so no travel expenses to pay the consultant), with a simple distribution model then on average you will probably expect to pay somewhere between £750 - £1000 per day or £105 to £140 per hour. 

If you are within the M25 or have a more complicated distribution model and subsequently need more technical support then a daily cost of £1200 - £1500 is more likely with an hourly rate of £170 - £220.

  1. A good compliance consultant is one who stays abreast of the FCA rules and any changes to these, translates these into workable solutions for your business and supports the monitoring and oversight of compliance within your business.
  2. You will agree the nature of activity you would like them to undertake for you at an initial meeting and thereafter at regular review meetings either remotely or face to face. They should be available to you to respond to ad-hoc queries between meetings and provide you with regular updates.
  3. If you are looking for a one-off project, and not a retainer, then they will deliver on the scope agreed with you before they start the work. They will most likely produce a RAG rated report with actions highlighted in order of priority/significance. They might also support you to rectify any issues if you have requested this as part of the scope.

The FCA places importance on firm’s ensuring monitoring and oversight of their regulated activities such as quality monitoring of advice/documentation, adherence to the client money rules as well as other FCA rules, providing staff training, responding to customer complaints etc. A compliance monitoring programme is effectively a calendar of activity for a period of time, usually a year, to ensure that the firm keeps on top of everything. Often a compliance consultant will support firms to follow the programme and will usually undertake some of the activity for them eg file reviews, process reviews, staff training etc

If you wish to sell insurance products and earn remuneration for doing so then its most likely you will need to be regulated by the FCA. You can apply to the FCA to be directly authorised by them or alternatively you might choose to become an Appointed Representative of a directly authorised firm and they will be responsible for your compliance.

The vast majority of insurance intermediaries in the UK choose to buy in some form of compliance support. This might come from being a member of an insurance network or to contract directly with a consultant such as ICS. The level of support needed is based on the compliance skills and knowledge that the firm has within its own managers and staff. If this is at a low level then more hands on support from a firm such as ICS is needed. If a firm has personnel with regulatory compliance knowledge then access to a compliance manual/portal and regulatory updates (to avoid searching the internet) is usually very helpful.

How Can We Help?

We offer up to two initial consultations without charge, to determine the exact nature of your challenges/concerns. If you would like to try out some of our compliance services before committing we can offer a demo of our Compliance Portal, samples of our Hot TopICS or attendance at one of our Webinars. Thereafter we will agree which of our services are most likely to help you most with your regulatory requirements, agree a package of support (or a one-off project) and send a detailed proposal for your approval. Before, or after, you decide to go ahead, we will introduce you to the Consultant(s) who will agree a diary of contact at times to suit you both.

Please call us on 01892 539600, email us at enquiries(at)insurancecompliance.co.uk, or send us a message using the form for more information or to make an enquiry about any of our compliance services.

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ICS have been a joy to work with and extremely proficient whilst helping with FCA authorisation and regulatory approval. Marie & David understood exactly what was required and allowed me to immerse myself in the process too throughout. I’ll be using them on an ongoing basis too, now that authorisation and regulatory approval has been received. Marie and David are knowledgeable, thorough and extremely good people too. Ed Colville XA Underwriting Solutions Ltd.
DR&P Group have been working with ICS for the last 3 years, supporting the group in several key areas of compliance. Whilst ICS primarily support us on our London Market business following our first Lloyd’s Broker acquisition, they have been able to provide support across a broad spectrum of compliance issues including audits, training and the management of Appointed Representatives.

We have been impressed with ICS ability to interpret regulatory change, their depth of knowledge and most importantly, the way that they complement and work in tandem with our own internal compliance department and our business leaders. Tom Storer DR&P Group
I wholeheartedly recommend the services that ICS provide. ICS, through Elly, has spent time to understand our business and provides guidance and support to negotiate the regulatory landscape. Elly is hugely knowledgeable, approachable, and responsive, and happy to answer questions.

ICS is pro-active in the regulatory space, providing numerous resources including highly relevant bulletins, seminars and webinars. Overall a pleasure to deal with. Specialist Insurance Broker South West England
The guidance received from ICS helped us navigate compliance issues with ease, ensuring that we met all regulatory standards efficiently. The practical solutions they provided have greatly improved our compliance processes and minimised our risk exposure.

We highly recommend ICS to any organisation seeking expert compliance advisory services. Their professionalism, expertise, and commitment to excellence are truly unmatched. Thank you for your support!” Specialist Intermediary South East England
In August 2023 we engaged ICS for compliance advisory services, and the experience has been outstanding. Their deep knowledge and understanding of regulatory requirements have been invaluable to our organisation.

From the very beginning, Elly at ICS demonstrated a thorough understanding of our industry’s unique challenges and tailored her approach to meet our specific needs. In addition, the whole ICS team has been proactive, detail-oriented, and always available to address any concerns or questions we had. Specialist Intermediary South East England
We highly value the regular updates which explain the actions we need to take. These help us anticipate and accommodate regulatory changes and maintain compliance. Insurance Business Owner
We particularly appreciate our dedicated compliance consultant’s visits. He is a key part of our team and helps us feel confident. Insurance Business Owner
We have faith that you will always deliver a high standard of service. Insurance Business Owner
You are always ready to help. Our dedicated consultant gives us tailored advice at our quarterly reviews and the telephone helpline is always available whenever we need a little extra support. Insurance Business Owner
Your 'full service' package gives us unrivalled peace of mind. From the comprehensive compliance manual to the Hot TopICS regulatory updates, you ensure that we are well-informed and able to implement the actions needed to maintain compliance. Insurance Business Owner
We have never been more comfortable with our regulatory status / situation based on the support and guidance we receive from you guys. Jeff Rush Chief Executive, Rush Insurance Services Ltd
Earlier this week I was sent details of what would be required for a Network audit at the end of the month. The amount of documents, policies, procedures and registers required for this were terrifying and would previously have taken me 2 weeks of solid work to pull together, whilst still trying to run the business and look after clients. Because of the work Casey had already done for us though, in only 2 visits, literally everything needed was readily available, up to date and perfect. Can’t thank her enough and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend her to anyone else. Insurance Business Owner
ICS has been invaluable to us and we will continue to use them as our external compliance arm as they are a dedicated professional team with unparalleled expertise in the industry. Insurance Business Owner
Since working with ICS we have complete peace of mind regarding all of our compliance needs. We have worked with others in the past who have not understood our business or our needs. ICS’s service has been exceptional, not only with our regular day to day requirements, but also when we have called on them for support and advice for bespoke projects; indeed they attended an urgent meeting with a moment’s notice. Insurance Business Owner
We have used ICS for 10 years. We are extremely satisfied with the service they provide and with their specialist knowledge and advice on the rules and regulations. Nothing is too much trouble. Help from the friendly team with the RMAR/Gabriel is greatly appreciated. We would not hesitate to recommend them. Insurance Business Owner
We have built up a good relationship with our Consultant, who is key to the service ICS provides to us. We find the way he coaches us and understands our mentality helps with the compliance piece – and we are never lectured. Insurance Business Owner
We are very pleased to have been a business partner of ICS for 5 years. This relationship works very well giving us the right balance of internal control and external, up to date advice. The service provided by our relationship manager, Rob Cawthorne, has been professional and beneficial. Rob has also been our main contact for some time now providing stability and continuity. Insurance Business Owner
Really pleased to finally meet up today and get so much done. I feel a lot better knowing what is expected of me as a business owner. Much of the Product Governance and Pricing initiatives are core to my business anyway and I have no trouble with what is in store Insurance Business Owner
ICS worked with Specialist Risk Group on a major project from August 2021 to January 2022. As a company that prides itself on its specialist knowledge we were impressed by the way that ICS understood our business. They managed the entire project efficiently, keeping us updated at each stage of the process. Our dedicated consultant, Tony Darwall, was very experienced and built a good rapport with our staff. The deliverables from the project were of a high quality and we look forward to working with ICS again in the future. Clare Lebecq Group Chief Operating Officer, Specialist Risk Group