Information on senior management functions - January 2024

a.     Please can you confirm how many individuals the FCA interviewed for this purpose during: (i) 2023 and, (i) 2024 (so far)?

In considering the following data, please note the following:

• The data only relates to Senior Management Functions (SMF) applications received from existing firms and does not include SMF applications related to new firm applications.  We have assumed here that you are interested in standalone SMF applications as opposed to our assessment of individuals associated with new firm applications. If you would like data regarding interviews undertaken as part of our assessment of individuals associated with new firm applications, please let us know.
• The data excludes open cases where applications are yet to be determined as at 10 January 2024.
• The data only includes the number of interviews conducted on FCA-led SMF applications. For Dual Regulated firms (i.e. those regulated by both the PRA and FCA), the PRA are the administrative lead for PRA-led SMF applications. Whilst both regulators often attend SMF interviews jointly for PRA-led applications, the PRA is responsible for holding the data for these.

In 2023, 52 FCA-led interviews were conducted to approve an individual to perform one or more Senior Management Function.

As at 10 January 2024, we were yet to make decisions in 2024 on any FCA-led applications where a candidate has been interviewed.

b.     If possible, please can you break these figures down by SMF applied for (e.g. how many interviews were held with SMF16 candidates) or provide a general indication of the most common SMFs for which the FCA decided to interview a candidate? If this information is not available / cannot be provided, please feel free to omit this item b from your response.

In relation to the 52 FCA-led interviews referenced above, the breakdown of the functions applied for is below (see the FCA Handbook for a description of each function). Multiple functions can be applied for via individual applications, hence the sum of the functions below is greater than the number of FCA-led interviews completed.

Of the interviews referred to in 1 above:

1. How many individuals were invited to attend second interviews with the FCA (as referred to on the FCA’s website, https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/approved-persons/senior-management-functions under “If we’re not satisfied”)?
   
   Five (5) of the 52 FCA-led applications included a second interview as we were not satisfied we could approve the application after a first interview.
    
2. If possible, please can you break these figures down by SMF applied for (e.g. how many second interviews were held with SMF16 candidates) or provide a general indication of the most common SMFs where the FCA decided to interview a candidate for a second time? If this information is not available / cannot be provided, please feel free to omit this item b from your response.

As mentioned in question 1(b) above, multiple functions can be applied for via individual applications.

Please can you confirm how many applications for individuals to be approved to perform one or more Senior Management Functions were:

1. Approved during 2023?
   5,169
    
2. Approved subject to conditions or time limits during 2023 (per SUP 10C.12)?
   6
    
3. Withdrawn during 2023?
   371
    
4. Rejected during 2023?
   
   Rejected – 133
   Refused - 1
    
5. If possible, please can you break these figures down by SMF applied for (e.g. how SMF16 candidates were approved, approved subject to conditions, withdrew their applications and had their applications rejected)? If this information is not available / cannot be provided, please feel free to omit this item e from your response.

As for question 1 above, the data set out in the table below only includes FCA-led SMF applications.

In considering the above data, please note the following:

For clarity, there are multiple potential outcomes to Senior Manager applications.  These are:

• Approval
• Approval with conditions or time limits
• Withdrawal – if we have concerns with an application, we typically provide informal feedback to applicant firms prior to making a formal decision. This can lead to firms withdrawing applications as per stage 2 of our refusal process.  There can be other reasons why a firm withdraws an application that do not relate to feedback received from the FCA.
• Rejection - we reject applications if firms do not provide the minimum information we ask for.
• Refusal – where a decision is taken by an executive decision-maker to refuse an application, as per our refusal process.

As per question 1 above, this data only includes FCA-led SMF applications.