How will the asset management sector be affected by new SM&CR?

'Much needed levels of transparency'

While the Senior Managers Regime was designed as a response to the banking crisis and originally aimed at deposit takers, the extension of the Senior Managers & Certification Regime (SM&CR) will bring equivalent and much needed levels of accountability and transparency to all regulated financial organisations and will have a significant impact on the asset management sector.

One of the central regulatory outcomes of the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) final market study, published in June, on asset management was to strengthen the duty on fund managers to act in the best interests of investors.  The SM&CR is integral to increasing accountability within fund managers and is cited as one of the main remedies for providing protection for investors who are not well placed to find better value for money. The consultation also looks at measures to ensure investors can easily be moved into cheaper share classes. 'FCA has hit the nuclear button': Industry res...