The BSB has today (20 February 2018) published new supporting guidance to help firms identify and deal with risks and issues that may arise when assessing the Fitness and Propriety (F&P) of their certified staff. This guidance follows discussion with member firms, and a public consultation which ran from 13 July to 29 September 2017. A summary and analysis of consultation responses is published alongside the guidance.
BSB good practice guidance is developed in partnership with its member firms and represents a pooling of firms’ knowledge and experience. It does not impose any legal or regulatory obligations but provides firms with a practical sense of what ‘good’ may look like, when considering their own policies and procedures.
Download the documentation
Supporting Guidance 2: Establishing pass/fail criteria and evidencing the F&P assessment
About this guidance
This supporting guidance is the product of work by the BSB’s Certification Regime Working Group (CRWG). The CRWG was established in early 2016 to enable BSB members both to learn from each other about implementation of the Certification Regime and to identify areas where consistency of approach could be beneficial.
In February 2017, and drawing on CRWG discussions, the BSB published a Statement of Good Practice 1 on Fitness and Propriety Assessment Principles and Supporting Guidance on Fitness and Propriety Definitions, Sources of Information and Assessment Record Template. These set out a good practice framework for firms assessing the F&P of their certified staff.
This latest guidance, published today, addresses particular aspects of the certification decision where the issues involved may not be clear-cut. It includes:
- factors to consider when evaluating the evidence used in assessing F&P;
- an overview of the options available to firms in making certification decisions;
- examples of dealing with certification risks and issues; and
- good practice in recording the outcomes of an F&P assessment.
The BSB’s Annual Review, to be published in March 2018, will provide more information on the BSB’s work on the implementation of the Certification Regime, including planned work on regulatory references.