UK
Ireland
Regulatory consulting
S&W’s regulatory consulting team of compliance experts help businesses navigate complex regulatory requirements, supporting compliance, minimising risks and uncovering opportunities. We combine board-level insights with practical, grounded execution support. We’ll help you proactively address your recognised regulatory and business needs and respond rapidly and effectively to unexpected challenges.
Our experts continuously monitor the regulatory landscape, provide updates, offer bespoke guidance and challenge our clients to help implement best practice and identify risk. We turn complexity into opportunity and help our clients to help their clients, supporting businesses to remain compliant and avoid fines, commercial penalties and reputational harm. We also help regulated businesses in discussions with regulators, representing our clients’ interests and robustly defending their positions.
A trusted adviser for all your regulatory needs
S&W’s regulatory consulting team are experienced compliance consultants who serve FCA and PRA regulated clients across sectors, across the country and overseas. Our services span business as usual compliance, strategic reviews, operating model redesign, organisational change, programme delivery and performance improvement.
Our services
We support brokers, banks and insurers, personal investment firms, consumer lenders and firms across the whole of the financial services industry. Covering every stage of business and all regulatory requirements, we deliver support services and advice across four key pillars:
Authorisations
For newly authorised firms and individuals or those expanding their commercial activities. We guide businesses through the FCA’s approval processes – from identifying appropriate permissions to managing the application. Our services, such as training, coaching and drafting, support you along the authorisation journey.
Conduct
Ongoing compliance is vital. We help achieve this through services such as retained or fractional support, health checks, conduct and culture assessments, training and compliance frameworks. We strengthen controls, policies and processes to build strong conduct cultures so that compliance is a competitive advantage.
Assurance
Checking and challenging controls across Three Lines of Defence (3LOD) to achieve best practice. This includes one-off or specialist work, such as skilled persons reviews and remediation projects focusing on proactive improvements and adding value, as well as identifying risks and strategies to enhance controls’ effectiveness. We also provide internal audit services alongside risk advisory colleagues.
Governance
Optimise oversight and risk management, with input across financial crime, board effectiveness, conduct, culture and governance of AI. We help demonstrate accountability, independent challenge and adherence to regulatory expectations – enabling good governance that reduces operational risks and promotes a culture of transparency and responsibility.
We also offer a range of outsourced regulatory services for enhanced efficiency and expertise in handling regulatory demands.
Whether it’s creating regulatory business plans (RBPs) or client assets (CASS) reporting, policy reviews or coaching prospective SMF16 and SMF 17 candidates, regulatory due diligence or dispute resolution, we provide comprehensive services.
Industry expertise
S&W’s partners and practitioners bring depth and breadth with experience and expertise across the financial services industry:
- Asset Management
- Brokers
- Capital Markets
- Credit and Lending
- Digital Assets
- Insurance
- Investments and Investment Management
- Mortgages
- Payment services
- Pensions
- Wealth management
From compliance to competitive advantage: Why S&W?
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Experienced
Our compliance consulting team brings a wealth of experience, successfully navigating the complexities of various jurisdictions, sectors and markets, with a breadth and depth of knowledge.
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Tailored
We customise our services and advice to align with your specific needs and the unique culture of your business, for effective support seamlessly integrated into your operations.
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Technical
Our team have a strong knowledge of the areas in which we operate: We are there when you don’t know the answer – going deeper than our competitors and giving you expert insights. We use our knowledge to help your business maximise its unique selling points.
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Collaborative
We work closely with our clients as trusted partners, combining insights on the intricacies of financial regulations with a deep understanding of your organisation for better solutions.
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International
We’re experts in cross-border regulatory issues. We help firms manage obligations across jurisdictions, avoid duplication and navigate the complexity of operating in multiple markets.
Get in touch
Talk to our team today to discover how we can turn compliance into your competitive advantage.
Frequently asked questions
Do you only help regulated businesses?
No, we also support firms exploring whether regulation applies to them, planning to become regulated, or offering services adjacent to regulated activity – such as credit broking or outsourced service provision. Our work for some clients is to enable them to remain unregulated.
What should I do if we have some difficulty with the regulator?
Get in touch. Whether you're facing informal queries or formal concerns, we’re highly experienced in engaging with regulators on our clients’ behalf. We can help you prepare your response, manage the dialogue and demonstrate your position clearly and constructively. We have strong regulatory relationships and can seek opinions or informal dialogue to ease tensions.
Can you support businesses currently subject to voluntary requirements (VREQs), skilled person reviews, regulatory investigation or enforcement action?
Yes. We have supported firms subject to regulatory scrutiny, including enforcement cases and skilled person reviews under Section 166 of the Financial Services & Markets Act and the Money Laundering Regulations. We help clients respond to notices, manage interactions with the regulator and design remediation plans that meet expectations while protecting business integrity.
For organisations facing section 166 notices or equivalent supervisory action, we provide end-to-end support, from initial scoping and engagement with the regulator to helping you respond to findings and implement recommended actions. We’ve helped clients prepare for and respond to skilled person reviews across a range of regulatory topics.
More importantly, we will steer you through a strategy to return to normal, compliant trading with an improved relationship with the regulator.