Approved persons have to know and meet our regulatory requirements, as well as understand how to apply them.
Approved persons have to:
- meet and abide by the rules of our fit and proper test
- comply with the Statements of Principle and the Code of Practice
- report anything that could affect their ongoing suitability to us and the authorised firm via Form D (PDF)
Statements of Principle and Code of Practice
These are the standards of behaviour we expect of approved persons. The code of practice outlines the behaviour that, in the regulators’ opinion, will or will not meet a statement of principle.
An approved person:
- must act with integrity in carrying out their controlled function
- must act with due skill, care and diligence in carrying out their controlled function
- must observe proper standards of market conduct in carrying out their controlled function
- must deal with all regulators in an open and co-operative way and must disclose appropriately any information of which we or Prudential Regulation Authority would reasonably expect notice
- performing a significant influence function (SIF) must take reasonable steps to ensure that the business of the firm for which they are responsible in their controlled function is organised so that it can be controlled effectively
- performing a SIF must exercise due skill, care and diligence in managing the business of the firm for which they are responsible in their controlled function
- performing a SIF must take reasonable steps to ensure that the business of the firm for which he is responsible in his controlled function complies with the relevant requirements and standards of the regulatory system
We expect the firm’s money laundering reporting officer (MLRO) to be based in the UK. An MLRO needs to be appointed by all firms other than sole traders with no employees.
Non-compliance
We will take disciplinary action against approved persons who:
- act in a way that is inconsistent with the rules for controlled functions
- knowingly work together to breach their firm’s rules
Our actions include fines, suspensions of approval, imposing restriction and issuing a public statement about the misconduct.