Mastering Key Skills for Effective Compliance Professionals

Course description

BRAND NEW PROGRAMME
REGISTER BY 1 SEP & SAVE £200 IN OUR SPECIAL SUMMER PROMOTION!

Join this practical 1 day course conducted by senior Compliance expert, to build the skills, confidence, and judgement to become an effective compliance officer who protects your organisation and drives a culture of integrity.

The FCA’s approach has become more assertive and more visible. The regulator has committed to robust, increasingly visible enforcement action, underpinned by enhanced data capabilities and a continued focus on delivering tangible outcomes for consumers. For a Compliance Officer, that’s not a background noise, it’s the environment you operate in daily.

Compliance isn’t about memorising rulebooks. It’s about judgement, knowing how to apply a risk-based mindset, when to escalate, how to say “no” to the business without losing the room, and how to evidence that you took “reasonable steps” long before a regulator ever asks the question.

This course cuts through the noise and focuses on what actually matters day-to-day: complying with the FCA framework, your personal accountability under SMCR, building a monitoring programme that works, handling financial crime and complaints with confidence, and navigating the difficult conversations that define a genuinely effective compliance function.

This one-day course conducted by senior compliance expert, equips compliance professionals in FCA-authorised firms with the practical knowledge and confidence to perform their role effectively. It covers the essentials, the FCA Handbook, personal accountability under SMCR, risk-based monitoring, financial crime management, complaints handling, and managing difficult regulatory conversations.

What will you learn

By attending this practical 1 day course you will be able to:

  • Understand the FCA’s regulatory framework and how it shapes the compliance function
  • Effectively apply the risk-based approach to compliance monitoring
  • Understand personal accountability under the Senior Managers & Certification Regime (SMCR)
  • Successfully handle common compliance dilemmas with confidence
  • Build practical tools you can use back at your desk including: monitoring plan template, breach log, escalation framework, and more

Main topics covered during this training

All of the topics listed below are approached during the course from an independent compliance oversight and management perspective

  • The FCA Regulatory Landscape. FCA objectives, the Handbook structure, and outcomes-based regulation (Consumer Duty)
  • SMCR and Personal Accountability. Senior Managers Regime, Certification Regime, Conduct Rules, and “reasonable steps”
  • Risk-Based Compliance Monitoring. Building and running a monitoring programme, the three lines of defence, reporting findings
  • Financial Crime Prevention. AML/CTF, CDD/EDD, sanctions, PEP screening and Suspicious Activity Reporting.
  • Complaints Handling and Consumer Duty. DISP requirements, root cause analysis, fair value and outcomes testing
  • Financial Promotions. Approval processes and common pitfalls
  • Escalation and Regulator Relationships. Notifiable events, FCA visits, information requests and skilled person reviews
  • Managing Difficult Conversations. Challenging commercial pressures and influencing without formal authority
  • Building a Personal Compliance Toolkit. Staying current, managing compliance calendars, and achieving personal resilience in the role

Who should attend

  • Personnel from, PRA and FCA designated firms including but not limited to Investment fund management, investment advisory, private wealth, consumer credit and insurance firms
  • FCA, Enhanced, core and limited scope Senior Managers and Certification Regime firms
  • Authorised and registered Electronic Money Institutions regulated under the Payment Services and Electronic Money regulations

Key individual roles that will benefit from this course are:

  • New or aspiring Compliance Officers and MLROs
  • Compliance Managers looking to formalise their approach
  • Professionals moving into compliance from legal, risk, or operations
  • Senior managers who want to better understand the compliance function they oversee

Essential Skills for Effective Compliance Officers - A 1 Day Programme

The Regulatory Landscape

  • The FCA is and its statutory objectives – consumer protection, market integrity, competition), and how it supervises firms
  • The FCA Handbook structure: PRIN, SYSC, COBS/CONC/ICOBS/MCOB depending on sector, and how to navigate it
  • The shift from rules-based to outcomes-based regulation. Consumer Duty as the current anchor
  • PRA vs FCA. Dual regulation for banks/insurers, and what that means for a Compliance Office

SMCR and Personal Accountability

  • Senior Managers Regime: Statements of Responsibility, Prescribed Responsibilities (including SMF16/SMF17. Compliance Oversight and MLRO)
  • Certification Regime: who needs certifying and how
  • Conduct Rules. The six individual rules, four Senior management conduct rules and how breaches are assessed and reported
  • “Reasonable steps”. what regulators expect and how to evidence you took them
  • Fit and proper assessments, regulatory references, and whistleblowing (SYSC 18)

Building a Risk-Based Compliance Monitoring Programme

  • Compliance monitoring plans: risk assessment, prioritisation, and resourcing
  • The three lines of defence model and where compliance sits
  • Thematic reviews vs deep-dive testing vs continuous monitoring
  • Reporting findings upward: management information, root cause analysis, and tracking remediation
  • Common pitfalls: box-ticking, testing what’s easy rather than what’s risky, losing independence

Financial Crime, Complaints, and Conduct Risk

  • AML/CTF fundamentals: risk assessment, CDD/EDD, ongoing monitoring, SARs and the NCA
  • Sanctions and PEP screening essentials
  • Complaints handling under DISP and root cause reporting
  • Consumer Duty in practice: outcomes testing, fair value assessments, vulnerable customers
  • Financial promotions approval.
  • A Compliance Officer’s day-to-day bread and butter

Escalation, Regulator Relationships, and Difficult Conversations

  • When and how to escalate to the Board / Audit Committee
  • Notifiable events under SUP 15. What must be reported to the FCA and within what timeframe
  • Managing FCA visits, information requests (s.165), and skilled person reviews (s.166)
  • Saying “no” to the business: influencing without formal authority, managing conflict with commercial pressure
  • Documenting decisions to protect the firm and yourself

Action Planning

Consider how your firm’s policies, processes and procedures can be enhanced to ensure they continue to support an effective and compliant CASS regime.

 

Trainer

A highly experienced regulatory consultant, and Money Laundering Reporting Officer for two investment management and advisory firms. A compliance and risk director that has worked on a number of FCA enforcement actions and has undertaken a number of Interim Head of Risk & Compliance roles associated with outsourcing, financial crime, monitoring and assurance projects.

Interim roles have included FCA-approved head of Risk & Compliance and Money Laundering Reporting Officer positions in Fund Management, Private Wealth Management, Insurance, Financial Technology and Consumer Credit firms.

The trainer has successfully led a number of companies through regulatory enforcement, section 166’s, risk mitigation programmes, authorisation applications, regulatory change of control applications and variation of regulatory permissions.

Additionally, he has taken on senior interim consultant roles in Risk & Compliance, which have involved conducting strategic assessments and implementing restructuring. He has led and continues to lead FCA S166 reviews and serves as the FCA Liaison for firms in need of support.

 

FAQ

We offer banking and finance courses as well as soft skills and business management training. You can either attend an open public course in London or Dubai or arrange customised in-house training to be delivered in any of your offices worldwide.

Most of our public courses are run over 2 full days. Some programmes are offered as a 1 or 3 day training.

In-house training is tailored to client’s requirements and can be organised over 1 day, 2-3 weeks or longer.

Public courses are organised mainly in London and Dubai. Occasionally we organise courses in other centres like Paris or New York. Check our public course calendar for the current list of programmes. We use a range of training venues, all in the centre of the cities and with excellent transport links to the airports and train stations.

In London we use venues in the centre (near Oxford Circus station or in Mayfair) or in the City (near Liverpool Street or Moorgate stations).

In Dubai our courses are organised in one of 4-5* hotels in the Deira district. Once you register we will send you detailed information together with accommodation options if required.

Our in-house courses can be delivered anywhere in the world. We work with over 25 trainers worldwide. Contact us do discuss your requirements. Check our list of available programmes.

Our courses are run in central locations from 9 a.m until 5-5.30 p.m. There are 2 coffee breaks and a lunch break. Lunch is always provided in the venue.

Dress code is smart casual.

All our programmes are taught by senior specialists who have spent many years in their respective sectors, working as senior managers and head of departments, so they understand very well the market and the challenges you are facing.

The experience of our trainers allows us to create very practical programmes, focused on current market trends and challenges. You can be sure that you will gain the knowledge which can be instantly applied in your workplace after the course. You will be analysing real life case studies, take part in group exercises and discussions as well as role plays, whenever applicable.

We want our courses to be as practical and interactive as possible so we limit the number of participants in order to optimise your time with the trainer and allow you to ask questions which are important for you.

In order to understand your requirements and expectations, we will send you a pre-course questionnaire.

You will also receive post-course support so if you have any questions after you left the training, you are welcome to contact us.

There are 2 easy ways to register:

  1. Go to the course of your choice and click Register Now button to fill the registration page
  2. Email us to enquiry@eurekafinancial.com

After you register, we will send you registration confirmation and an invoice so you can arrange the payment. Please note that your place is not confirmed until we receive it.

If you register within Early Bird discount period, there’s limited time to arrange the payment in order to be eligible for the discount. You will find all the details on the invoice.

We don’t advise to make any travel and hotel arrangements until you receive full course confirmation from us.

We will send you venue and course details as soon as possible but most likely about 3-4 weeks prior to the course commencement.

You can pay by:

  • Making a bank transfer
  • Debit/credit card
  • Cheque payable to Eureka Financial Ltd. - only within UK

Just mark preferred paying option on the registration form. Whichever form of payment you choose we will always send you an invoice.

If you pay by card, a 2.2% processing fee will be added. We will send you authorisation form so you can give us your card details.

Included in the price of a public course are:

  • Course tutorial
  • Take away course materials
  • Course Certificate
  • Lunch on the days of the training as well as drinks and snacks throughout the course

The price doesn’t include accommodation, flights, transfers and any additional costs outside of the training venue.

Yes, we always offer Early Bird discount, so the sooner you register the more savings you can make. We also offer group discounts and if you register for 2 or more programmes at the same time.

If you are a full time student or unemployed, we offer a 25% discount of the full price of the training. Student ID or unemployment status confirmation is required to claim this discount.

If you attend one of our courses you will be entitled to a special discount for a year after the last course you attend with us. Also, if you have attended and recommended us to a friend, both you and your friend will receive a special discount. You will receive more information about it after you attend the course.

See our Customer Loyalty Discounts page for more details.

All our courses based in the UK are subject to the VAT charge of 20%. This fee is irrespective of the country of residence of the delegates.

You can, however, claim the VAT back by contacting UK tax office - HMRC, and filling the relevant form, as long as you comply with the following rules:

For Delegates coming from the EU countries

If you represent a registered business in another EU country, you can use the Refund Scheme to reclaim VAT you pay in the UK as long as all of the following apply:

  • You're not registered for VAT in the UK and don't have to, or can't be, registered here
  • You don't have a place of business or a residence in the UK
  • You don't make any supplies in the UK

You can find some more information here. In order to claim the VAT you have to fill Form 65.

For the Delegates from Non EU countries

If you represent a registered business in a non-EU country, you can use the Refund Scheme to reclaim VAT you pay in the UK as long as all of the following apply:

  • You're not registered for VAT in the UK and don't have to, or can't be, registered here
  • You don't have a place of business or a residence in the EU
  • You can only use the Refund Scheme if your own country operates a similar scheme and makes it available to UK businesses. If your country has its own Refund Scheme but doesn't let UK businesses use it, you can't claim under the UK Refund Scheme.
  • You don't make any supplies in the UK

If the following rules apply to you, please fill the 65A form and send it to HMRC.

Webinars

You can cancel your participation up to a month before the course and receive a refund minus 10% of the full course value. Between 2-4 weeks before the course you will be charged 50% cancellation fee and if you cancel less than 2 weeks before the course you can only offer your place to a colleague. Up to 2 weeks before the course you can reregister for another edition for 10% reregistration fee if there is another webinar offered or you can rebook for a course in London by paying the difference in price plus 10% reregistration fee.

Classroom Courses

If there is any official travel restriction or difficulty related to the COVID pandemic around the time of the course we will convert the training into a webinar or offer to attend the next classroom edition at no extra cost.

If you are unable to attend the course, you can either send a replacement at no extra charge or, up to 10 days before the training, you can transfer your booking to another edition within the next 6 months paying administrative fee of 20% of the full course price. For any cancellation requests received between 11 days and 4 weeks from the course we offer 50% refund or reregistration to another edition for 25% of the value of the booking. For any cancellation requests received more than 4 weeks before the course date we will offer a refund less an administration fee of 10% of the full course price.

Cancellations must be made in writing (letter or email) and reach our office four weeks prior to the course date. We regret that only limited refunds can be given after this period as per points above. Non-attendance without any notification will be charged at full rate. Your place on a course is not guaranteed until we receive the payment. All payments must be made in full before the course date.

All our trainers have been working for many years in their respective sectors before they begun to teach so they bring a wealth of practical experience to the classroom.

Most of them used to work for 15 or more years in the financial sector and corporate world, and were holding positions of Directors, VP and Senior Managers. Some of them have published books and have written articles for specialised magazines and newspapers including FT, The Independent, The Times etc. You can find detailed biography of each trainer on the page of the course you want to register for.

Yes, you will receive a Certificate of Attendance at the end of the course you attend.

If you have to apply for a Visa to attend a course in the UK, we will issue a letter to support your application. The letter will be issued only after the payment for the course has been made.

It is delegate’s responsibility to obtain a Visa and failure to do so will not make the participant exempt from the cancellation policy.

Anyone suspected of applying for a training course simply to gain a Visa letter will be reported to their embassy.

We will need the following information to issue an invitation letter:

  • Full name as it appears on your passport
  • Date of birth
  • Passport number
  • Passport issue date
  • Passport expiry date

20 Nov 2026, Online / Virtual

Register by 01 Sep to save £200

Early bird price £795 + VAT

Regular price £995 + VAT


5% discount for 2 and 10% for 3 people.


This topic can be arranged on in-house basis. If you have a group of 4 or more we can customise it and deliver in any location worldwide. Contact us to discuss your requirements


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