The Financial Services Authority (the “FSA”) has issued the Code for Compliance Function (the “Code”) which sets out the standards expected by the FSA in relation to compliance for all licensees.
The Code is designed to assist all licensees in having efficient and effective compliance standards and sets out the minimum criteria that the FSA will use to assess the adequacy of a licensee’s compliance standards. The aim of the Code is to provide clarification regarding the organization of the compliance function as well as the distribution of roles and responsibilities between the different functions of an organization in relation to the compliance function.
The licensees should adopt compliance standards which are commensurate to their respective risks exposures and business profiles, and their compliance function should ensure that the licensee is conforming to rules, policies, standards and laws in order to act responsibly within the applicable regulatory and legal framework. The licensees and their board of directors shall assume full responsibility for their compliance standards, including the establishment and maintenance of a well–designated, applied and monitored compliance function. They must ensure that a compliance culture permeates the entire organization.