The FCA has quietly signalled the end to its Covid-friendly policies of patience, extended deadlines and generally a lighter touch.

This week it published a new guidance document making clear that it was going to place far more scrutiny on remote and hybrid working.

Since the pandemic started most Financial Planners have enthusiastically embraced working from home, remote working and hybrid advice (combining remote communication and automation with the human touch where possible).

It’s all worked pretty well for most Financial Planning firms.

I know a number of smaller Financial Planning firms have continued working from the office in a dogged fashion but for most planning firms working from home, at least a large part of the time, has become a way of life, with cats walking across keyboards, dress down and an array of new habits.

Most planners have made the best of enforced home working and some firms have prospered, embracing technology like never before.

The FCA has been understanding of all this change, indeed many FCA staff have worked from home themselves, but the watchdog is now making clear it will be paying more attention to remote and hybrid working.

Remote working is not an excuse for lower regulatory standards would be a good summary.

The FCA is mostly concerned about the increased risk of financial crime for firms operating on a remote-only basis.

It is not halting remote work or hybrid working, far from it, but it is turning up the heat in terms of scrutiny. It is particularly concerned that the accuracy of the FCA register is sustained. I suspect the register still lists most people as working from a town or city office but what if they have shipped out permanently, perhaps even overseas? How can they be monitored and held to account if needed?

The FCA has notched up many successes in its office visiting strategy over the years, turning up and literally asking to see the books and the whites of advisers' eyes. That’s a bit trickier when everyone is working from home with staff spread over a wide distance.

So should Financial Planning firms be worried? Probably not for now but things are changing and the compliance officer should review the way a firm operates now in the event of some tougher questions from the regulator in the future.

Covid has forced a massive shift in working practices in financial services and the regulator now wants a return to more normal regulatory policies. WFH is fine but firms will need to demonstrate they have not dropped the compliance baton in the rush to home working.