Implementing the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR) has been a challenge for many organizations. Now there is the daunting prospect of contending with ongoing maintenance, including the annual assessment of the fitness and propriety of certified persons – the first of which is due in March 2021. Here are five ways SMCR software can help you prepare:

  1. Creates one central repository of data for information transparency.

    When data is housed in silos, it rarely gets shared. And when it does, it’s often not in the right format and is already out of date.

    SMCR software collects and consolidates all SMCR-related data from across your organization into a single platform, so all stakeholders can easily view and attest to this information in a cohesive way – and in real-time.

  2. Enables collaboration and encourages positive engagement with the business.

    If SMCR is to be done well, senior managers must be involved and engaged in the process. SMCR software encourages this by clearly presenting individuals with their functions and responsibilities, prompting action with automated notifications, and offering a user-friendly, interactive interface. Technology also provides a 350-degree view of SMCR status and activities, which opens the door for integration with other internal HR or learning development systems.

  3. Automates the distribution and collation of attestations and surveys.

    The process of distributing and collating feedback from certified persons and senior managers can be laborious, involving numerous emails and manual data input.

    Dedicated SMCR software does the hard work for you. It automatically generates and sends questionnaires to the relevant individuals, with compliant and noncompliant answers flagged for managers, as well as for compliance or HR teams.

  4. Generates ‘regulator-ready’ documentation.

    SMCR requires a number of key outputs, including:

    • Individual responsibilities
    • Responsibility maps
    • Certificates

    Pulling siloed information together to create these documents from scratch can be the most time-consuming part of the process.

    A huge benefit of maintaining one central repository for SMCR data is that you can generate these documents at the click of a button, safe in the knowledge that the information you present to the FCA is as up to date as it can be.

  5. Simplifies powerful reporting on regime performance.

    SMCR software streamlines reporting and analysis of SMCR data.

    Standardized reporting templates, combined with advanced analytics and extensive data-slicing abilities, give compliance managers a powerful tool for reporting to senior leaders. You can lift detailed, real-time data on the status of responsibility and function assignments for continuous visibility into program performance.

Dedicated SMCR software drives an efficient and effective SMCR program. It removes the administrative burden and helps to instill a new culture of conduct for all employees. In this, SMCR software helps organizations to fulfil one of the regime’s key objectives: to “reduce harm to consumers and strengthen market integrity.” And that’s a good reminder of the wider impact of SMCR and the importance of doing it well.

For more on overcoming the challenges of SMCR, check out our recent blog.

For more on effective compliance management, download our e-book, Transforming Compliance from Check-the-Box to Champion.