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BCC runs compliance for investment firms authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), including the prudential sourcebook for MiFID investment firms (MIFIDPRU), conduct rules, client assets and governance.
Selected engagements from more than 250 licences obtained since 2013, for payment, e-money and cryptoasset firms.
Volkswagen
Payment InstitutionObtained Nexpay’s FCA Authorised Payment Institution licence.
Electronic Money InstitutionObtained Dzing Finance’s FCA Authorised Electronic Money Institution licence.
Obtained Orbital’s FCA Authorised Payment Institution licence.
The short answer
A UK investment firm must meet the FCA's conduct rules, the MIFIDPRU prudential rules including the internal capital adequacy and risk assessment (ICARA), the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR), client asset rules where it holds client money or assets, and the Consumer Duty for retail business. An investment firm compliance consultant tests each area, fixes gaps and provides ongoing monitoring.
Investment firms carrying on business under the UK version of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), such as portfolio managers, advisers, brokers and trading venues, are authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA) and supervised against a dense set of rules. Conduct rules sit in the Conduct of Business sourcebook (COBS), product governance in PROD, conflicts of interest in SYSC 10 and prudential requirements in MIFIDPRU.
SYSC 6.1.3R requires a permanent and effective compliance function with the necessary authority, resources, expertise and access to information, and a compliance officer responsible for it and for compliance reporting. The FCA judges this function on what it finds, not on its organisation chart: whether monitoring is risk-based, whether issues reach the board and whether they are fixed. A consultant's role is to make that evidence exist and hold up.
Investment firms are within SM&CR as core or enhanced firms. Senior managers need FCA approval before they start, each has a statement of responsibilities and core firms allocate prescribed responsibilities. Staff in certification functions must be assessed as fit and proper each year, and the conduct rules apply to almost all staff. Whether the firm needs a compliance oversight senior manager (SMF16) and a money laundering reporting officer senior manager (SMF17) depends on its type and permissions under SUP 10C of the Supervision manual.
Under Part 12 of FSMA and SUP 11, anyone proposing to acquire or increase control must obtain FCA approval before completion, and the FCA has up to 60 working days to assess a complete notification. Investment firms are often bought, merged or recapitalised, and buyers who complete without approval commit a criminal offence. We prepare the notification, the controller documents and the post-completion governance plan.
Investment firms are within the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 (MLRs). They need a business-wide risk assessment, customer due diligence and enhanced due diligence where risk is higher, ongoing monitoring, sanctions screening and suspicious activity reporting, with a nominated officer, the money laundering reporting officer (MLRO), under regulation 21. SYSC 6.3 requires systems and controls that enable the firm to identify, assess, monitor and manage money laundering risk.
Market abuse is a parallel financial crime risk for firms that execute or arrange trades. The UK Market Abuse Regulation requires firms that arrange or execute transactions to detect and report suspicious orders and transactions. We test onboarding files, source of wealth evidence for high net worth clients, trade surveillance coverage and the quality of suspicious transaction and order reports, and write the MLRO annual report.
An investment firm's policy set covers conflicts of interest, best execution, inducements, personal account dealing, suitability and appropriateness, product governance, client categorisation, financial promotions, remuneration and complaints. Each policy must match what the firm actually does, and the FCA expects evidence that staff follow it.
Where the firm deals with retail clients, the Consumer Duty in PRIN 2A requires good outcomes on products and services, price and value, consumer understanding and consumer support, with a board review of outcomes at least annually. Value assessments for advice and portfolio management fees have been a particular FCA focus. Complaints must receive a final response within eight weeks under DISP 1.6.2R of the Dispute Resolution sourcebook (DISP). We build the fair value work, the board report and a complaints process that feeds back into the business.
Firms that hold client money or custody client assets are subject to the Client Assets sourcebook (CASS): CASS 6 for custody assets, CASS 7 for client money and CASS 10 for the resolution pack that would allow an insolvency practitioner to return assets promptly. Holding client money or assets also raises the permanent minimum capital requirement and brings an annual client assets audit and the client money and asset return.
CASS failures are among the most common causes of FCA enforcement against investment firms, and most begin with small breaks in reconciliations or trust letters that nobody escalates. We review the firm's CASS resolution pack, test internal and external reconciliations, check acknowledgement letters with banks and custodians, and prepare the CASS oversight officer and the board for the auditor's review.
Under MIFIDPRU 4.3, a firm must hold own funds at least equal to its own funds requirement. For a non-small and non-interconnected (non-SNI) firm, that is the highest of the permanent minimum capital requirement, the fixed overheads requirement and the K-factor requirement. For a small and non-interconnected (SNI) firm, it is the higher of the first two. The permanent minimum capital requirement in MIFIDPRU 4.4 is 75,000 pounds for advisers, portfolio managers and order handlers that do not hold client money or assets, 150,000 pounds for firms holding client money or assets or operating a multilateral trading facility, and 750,000 pounds for firms dealing on own account or underwriting on a firm commitment basis.
The ICARA in MIFIDPRU 7 is the firm's own assessment of the harm it could cause and the capital and liquidity it needs, including for an orderly wind-down. We review or write the ICARA document, test the wind-down plan, check public disclosures under MIFIDPRU 8 and review remuneration against SYSC 19G.
A risk-based compliance monitoring programme should test suitability, best execution, financial promotions, conflicts, personal account dealing, CASS and complaints, with findings tracked to closure. Investment firms report to the FCA under MIFIDPRU 9 using the MIF data items, including own funds, liquidity, K-factor and ICARA data, alongside complaints and, where relevant, client money returns.
SYSC 15A operational resilience rules apply to enhanced scope SM&CR firms and designated investment firms; other firms must still maintain business continuity arrangements. Outsourcing of critical or important functions is governed by SYSC 8, and the firm remains fully responsible for anything it outsources. We prepare or review returns, reconcile them to the management accounts, keep the reporting calendar, and review the outsourcing register, exit plans and key supplier contracts so that a supplier failure does not become a client or capital problem.
Every engagement follows the same four stages, scaled to the size of the investment firm and the urgency of the issue.
Assessment comes first: we review your permissions, governance, policies, management information and recent FCA correspondence against the rules that apply to you. You then receive written findings, ranked by regulatory risk, with each gap tied to the specific rule it breaches and a named owner for the fix. Remediation follows: we redraft policies and procedures, rebuild monitoring plans, correct returns and prepare board papers, and we can attend FCA meetings alongside your senior managers. Finally, ongoing support keeps the position steady after remediation, through a retained monthly review, an annual compliance monitoring programme or outsourced roles such as an outsourced compliance officer or MLRO.
Buckingham Capital Consulting (BCC) was established in 2013 and has obtained more than 250 licences in over 60 countries for payment, e-money and crypto firms. We open global markets to payment, e-money and crypto businesses: the licences to enter, the banking to operate and the compliance to scale.
For investment firms, that means compliance support from a team used to working on the regulatory file end to end: permissions, governance, controls and the evidence that shows the FCA they operate as described.
Because BCC also arranges banking for regulated firms, our compliance work is written with the questions banks and safeguarding providers ask in mind. A firm whose controls satisfy the FCA and its bank at the same time spends less time answering the same questions twice. To discuss your firm, use the contact form and tell us your permissions, your current team and the issue you need resolved.
An investment firm compliance consultant tests a firm against COBS, SYSC, MIFIDPRU, CASS, SM&CR and the Consumer Duty, documents the gaps, rewrites policies, builds the compliance monitoring programme and reviews returns. Many also review the ICARA and provide an outsourced compliance officer or MLRO.
Under MIFIDPRU 4.4, the permanent minimum capital requirement is 75,000 pounds for firms that do not hold client money or assets, 150,000 pounds for firms that do or that operate a multilateral trading facility, and 750,000 pounds for firms dealing on own account or underwriting on a firm commitment basis.
The internal capital adequacy and risk assessment, required by MIFIDPRU 7, is the firm's own assessment of the harm its business could cause and the own funds and liquid assets it needs to cover that harm and to wind down in an orderly way. It must be reviewed at least annually.
It depends on the firm's type and permissions under SUP 10C. Where the firm must appoint a compliance oversight senior manager (SMF16), that individual needs FCA approval before starting. SYSC 6.1.3R separately requires a compliance officer responsible for the compliance function.
Reporting frequency under MIFIDPRU 9 depends on whether the firm is SNI or non-SNI and on the data item, with most own funds and liquidity items submitted quarterly and ICARA data annually. Firms also submit complaints and, where relevant, client money returns.
Yes. BCC reviews client money and custody arrangements against CASS 6, CASS 7 and CASS 10, tests reconciliations and acknowledgement letters, and prepares the firm and its CASS oversight officer for the annual client assets audit.
Tell us what you need and where you operate.