The Parliamentary Committee on Banking Standards (PCBS) was appointed to consider and report on professional standards and the culture of the UK banking sector. In its June 2013 report, entitled ‘Changing banking for good’, the PCBS criticised the Approved Persons regime stating that “a lack of personal responsibility has been commonplace throughout the industry. Senior figures have continued to shelter behind an accountability firewall.”

In light of these criticisms the PCBS recommended that a new senior persons regime (now known as the senior managers regime) and a certification regime be created to improve senior management responsibility.

These recommendations were taken forward into the Banking Reform Act 2013; the requirements were extended to insurers effective 2016 and to all FSMA firms (circa 60,000 firms) at a future date – now expected to be 2018.

An FCA Consultation Paper is due Q2 this year and is expected to set out how the FCA intends to apply the new regime to the rest of the market.