23 March 2015

BoE: Strengthening individual accountability in banking and insurance

This policy statement issues the first set of the final PRA rules to implement the Senior Managers Regime and Certification Regime for UK banks, building societies, credit unions and PRA-designated investment firms, and the Senior Insurance Managers Regime for Solvency II insurers.

This document contains responses to CP14/14 and CP26/14 - PS3/15.

The Senior Managers Regime (SMR), the rules issued in Appendix 1 will come into force on 7 March 2016 and cover the:

• Scope of the PRA’s SMR
• Allocation of Prescribed Responsibilities to Senior Managers
• Scope of the PRA’s Certification Regime
• Assessment of fitness and propriety of Senior Managers and certified employees

The Senior Insurance Managers Regime (SIMR), the rules issued in Appendices 2 and 3 cover the:

• Scope of the Senior Insurance Managers Regime
• Allocation of Prescribed Responsibilities
• Assessment of fitness and propriety of individuals by firms

The Instrument at Appendix 2 contains the rules in respect of the fitness and propriety of individuals that transpose, or are closely related to the implementation of Solvency II. These rules will come into force on 1 January 2016, and will be replaced by the rules at Appendix 3 for implementation on 7 March 2016.

The Instrument at Appendix 3 contains the first set of final rules for the SIMR, which deal with the changes to the FSMA regime being made by the Banking Reform Act 2013, and introduce changes designed to align the SIMR with the SMR for banks. These rules will commence with effect from 7 March 2016, replacing the rules in Appendix 2.

This policy statement does not provide feedback on all the elements of CP14/14 and CP26/14, or all the final rules needed to implement the new regimes. There are some elements of the PRA’s new regimes that need to be finalised in conjunction with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

The PRA will issue a further policy statement and further final rules and supervisory statements on the outstanding elements of the regimes later in the year.

News release

Full policy statement

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