The Financial Conduct Authority has today proposed a new ‘consumer-friendly’ public Directory of financial services workers following criticism of its plan to cut the scope of its FCA Register of individuals to just senior managers.

The new Directory would cover most financial services workers and would give consumers and firms the ability to check the status and history of individuals working in the sector.  

It’s likely the Directory will cover many more people than the slimmed down the FCA Register. The FCA has planned to shrink the register to mainly focus on senior managers despite concerns from several quarters about the impact on consumers and their ability to check the bona fides of thousands of individuals.

The FCA says in its consultation paper CP 18/19 that the Register will continue as planned but with a smaller number of senior managers covered. Depending on the consultation, the Directory will cover more people than the register and may be launched in part as early as December with a full roll out next year.

The Directory will include all those who hold Senior Manager positions requiring FCA approval and “those whose roles require firms to certify that they are fit and proper.” The FCA says this will include mortgage and investment advisers.

The Directory has been designed to provide “user friendly, practical and easy to understand information.” 

Consumers will be able to search the Directory by location to find local advisers, for example, a move that may put the Directory in competition with other services such as unbiased.co.uk.

The FCA says its proposals are based on feedback on what consumers and firms want from the Directory. Feedback suggested savers want more information about individuals working in financial services than is currently available in one “user-friendly” place.

The FCA is also today publishing the ‘near final’ rules on the extension of the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR) to almost all regulated firms. Firms can now access the Guides to the SM&CR to understand what steps they need to take to prepare for its implementation, says the FCA.

Jonathan Davidson, executive director of supervision (Retail and Authorisations) at the FCA, said: “We’ve listened to feedback from firms and consumers about the importance of being able to check the status of financial services staff. Introducing the Directory will make it easier for people to be confident they can find the right people to deal with.

“Today’s publications are all about making sure that consumers can interact confidently with financial services professionals by setting clear standards for the behaviour of those individuals, and making available information about their fitness and propriety. 

“The Senior Managers and Certification Regime sets clear standards for the conduct that consumers and regulators expect from all financial services staff.  These standards of behaviour are central to the FCA’s priority of promoting healthy cultures in firms.”