Regulatory Capital publishes news, guidance and practical resources on the Senior Managers and Certification Regime, compliance oversight, financial crime and FCA authorisation. When you need to hire, SMF Capital and its sister firms recruit for every senior manager function.
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Go straight to SMF Capital’s recruitment page for the role you need to fill.
Every FCA-regulated firm runs on two things: the rules it has to follow and the people who are personally accountable for following them. Most compliance publications cover the first and ignore the second. Regulatory Capital covers both. Our articles explain what is changing in UK financial services regulation, and then ask the question boards actually face next: who do we need, how senior, how many days a week, and how quickly can they be approved?
The site is written for boards, chief executives, founders preparing for authorisation, compliance officers and MLROs, and the finance and HR teams who support them. It is published by the team behind SMF Capital, a specialist recruiter for FCA senior manager functions, and its sister firms in The Capital Recruitment Group. That means the guidance comes from people who see senior manager appointments every week, not from a summary of the Handbook.
Under the Senior Managers and Certification Regime, an approved individual is personally answerable for the parts of the business they hold. Getting those appointments right is one of the most consequential decisions a regulated firm makes, and one of the easiest to get wrong under time pressure.
Practical articles on senior manager functions, compliance oversight, financial crime and the people regulated firms need to hire.
Firms plan senior manager appointments as though approval is a formality with a waiting time attached. Usually it is. But the FCA does refuse applications, and more often it does something firms plan for even less: it asks questions that stretch the…
Read article: What If the FCA Doesn’t Approve Your Candidate?"How many days a month do we actually need?" is the question firms ask last and should ask first. It determines the cost, the…
Read article: How Many Days Does a Fractional SMF16/17 Need?An approved person resigning is not a vacancy in the ordinary sense. When a Compliance Oversight holder or an MLRO hands in notice, the…
Read article: The First Fortnight After Your SMF16 or SMF17 ResignsCompliance Officer Jobs: Where UK Regulated Firms Are Hiring Compliance has rarely been a quiet market, but the shape of demand has changed. A…
Read article: Compliance Officer Jobs: Where UK Regulated Firms Are HiringOutsourced Compliance Officer or Compliance Consultancy? Understanding the Difference Smaller FCA-regulated firms often say they "outsource compliance". That phrase covers two quite different arrangements.…
Read article: Outsourced Compliance Officer or Compliance Consultancy? Understanding the DifferenceThe Judgement Calls That Make a Good MLRO On paper, the Money Laundering Reporting Officer's job is well defined. The MLRO oversees the firm's…
Read article: The Judgement Calls That Make a Good MLROBuilding a Year's Compliance Monitoring Plan: A Worked Example Most guidance on compliance monitoring explains the principles: be risk-based, test outcomes not just paperwork,…
Read article: Building a Year’s Compliance Monitoring Plan: A Worked ExampleA senior manager appointment is not an ordinary senior hire with a regulatory form at the end. The individual must pass the FCA’s fitness and propriety assessment, their regulatory references must cover the past six years, and the firm must be able to show that they have the time, experience and support to do the job.
Generalist recruiters tend to treat the approval as somebody else’s problem. A candidate who looks right on paper can still stall at the FCA if their experience does not match the function, if a reference raises questions, or if the time commitment they offer is not credible for the firm’s size and risk. Those delays cost money, and for a firm in authorisation they can push back the date it is able to trade.
That is why SMF Capital exists. It is the group’s dedicated recruiter for FCA senior manager functions, set up to cover the whole regime in one place, from a first Compliance Officer and MLRO for a newly authorised payments firm to a chair, a chief risk officer and committee chairs at a firm moving from Core to Enhanced status. It runs permanent searches, interim cover when a holder leaves at short notice, and fractional arrangements where an experienced senior manager works for the firm part-time.
Demand is strongest for combined compliance oversight and money laundering reporting. At smaller firms one individual often holds both SMF16 and SMF17, and SMF Capital has a dedicated page on combined Compliance Officer and MLRO recruitment. For the background to that decision, read our article on whether to appoint one person for both roles, and our piece on building the financial crime team around your MLRO.
SMF Capital is the group's dedicated senior manager recruiter. It runs permanent, interim and fractional searches for regulated firms, from a first Compliance Officer and MLRO for a newly authorised firm to a board chair at an Enhanced firm. Every search is led personally by Adrian Lawrence FCA.
Or call 0203 745 0239
Senior managers come from very different talent pools. Alongside SMF Capital, four sister firms each recruit for regulated firms at a different level of leadership.
Finance and compliance leadership
Fractional, interim and permanent finance leaders for FCA-regulated firms, plus compliance and MLRO appointments.
Visit FD CapitalC-suite and executive SMFs
C-suite and board-level appointments, including the executive senior managers of regulated firms.
Visit Exec CapitalChairs and non-executives
Chairs, independent non-executive directors and committee chairs who hold governance functions under the SMCR.
Visit NED CapitalThe finance team behind them
Qualified finance professionals below director level who run reporting, client money and controls at regulated firms.
Visit Accountancy CapitalThe firms share one network and one database of around 10,000 candidates, so a regulated firm can come to whichever brand fits the role and still reach the whole group. As a rule of thumb:
Our SMF recruitment guide works through each function in turn and points to the specialist page for every one.
Every SMF appointment follows the same broad path, whether it is a permanent hire, an interim or a fractional arrangement. Planning each stage from the start is the best way to avoid a gap in a required function.
The FCA’s 2026 reforms to the regime, set out in policy statement PS26/6, changed some of the timings. Firms now have 12 weeks to submit an application for a replacement senior manager, and the person providing cover can continue while that application is decided. Regulatory references must be provided within four weeks rather than six. The statutory deadline for the FCA to decide a complete application remains three months.
You can check who currently holds each function at any authorised firm on the Financial Services Register, which is also the first place a good recruiter checks a candidate’s history.
Confirm the designated function, any prescribed responsibilities and a realistic time commitment for the firm’s size and risk.
Target candidates whose experience matches the function and the sector, not just the job title.
Regulatory references, criminal records and credit checks, and a candid look at anything the FCA may ask about.
Submit a complete application with a clear statement of responsibilities, and prepare the candidate for any interview.
A proper handover pack and an updated responsibilities map, so accountability is clear from day one.
Most senior manager vacancies are created by change: a new permission, a new regime, a supervisory letter or a firm crossing a threshold. These are the areas we follow most closely.
The 12-week rule, faster regulatory references, raised Enhanced thresholds and new rules on non-financial misconduct. All change how firms plan and replace senior managers. See the FCA’s SMCR pages and our digest of recent changes.
MLROs carry personal accountability for anti-money laundering systems under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, alongside sanctions screening overseen by OFSI. Demand for experienced MLROs, permanent and fractional, remains high.
The FCA’s authorisation gateway for the new cryptoasset regime opened on 30 September 2026, ahead of the regime taking effect on 25 October 2027. Applicants need credible senior managers, especially for compliance oversight and money laundering reporting.
The supplementary safeguarding rules that came into force in May 2026 brought daily reconciliations, a monthly safeguarding return and annual audits, raising the bar for finance and compliance leadership at payment and e-money firms.
The FCA began regulating Buy Now Pay Later on 15 July 2026. Lenders moving from temporary permissions to full authorisation need approved senior managers in place.
Banks, building societies and insurers answer to the Prudential Regulation Authority as well as the FCA, with additional functions such as SMF20 and SMF23 and a closer look at the collective suitability of the board.
Regulatory Capital and SMF Capital are part of The Capital Recruitment Group, founded by Adrian Lawrence. Adrian is a Fellow of the ICAEW who holds a practising certificate, a former listed-company Finance Director, and has led senior regulated appointments since founding FD Capital in 2018. He also hosts the SMF Unlocked podcast.
Adrian is a Chartered Accountant and every SMF Capital search is led by him personally, from the first conversation about the role through to FCA approval. View Adrian’s ICAEW profile.
Regulatory Capital is a news and guidance site for FCA-regulated firms. It is published by the team behind SMF Capital and The Capital Recruitment Group, and covers regulatory change alongside the practical question of who firms need to hire to meet it.
All of them, from SMF1 Chief Executive and SMF2 Chief Finance to the governance functions held by chairs and committee chairs, and the required SMF16 and SMF17 functions. It also recruits RDR-qualified senior managers and certified advisers. The SMF designations guide explains each function.
Yes, particularly at smaller firms. Fractional compliance officers and MLROs holding SMF16 and SMF17 are now common, provided the time commitment and support are proportionate to the firm’s size and risk. See fractional and interim SMF cover and our article on why more regulated firms are going fractional.
Under the reformed 12-week rule, a cover individual can step in while you submit an application for a permanent replacement, and can continue until the FCA decides it. SMF Capital’s urgent SMF replacement service covers both the interim and the permanent search.
It depends on your permissions and whether you will be a Limited Scope, Core or Enhanced firm, but most applicants need a chief executive, a compliance oversight holder and an MLRO in place, and often a finance lead. SMF Capital’s authorisation support page sets out the team the FCA expects to see.
Tell SMF Capital about the role, whether permanent, interim or fractional, and we will come back to you with how we would run the search, realistic timings and what the market is paying.
