SMF Unlocked

SMF Unlocked is a podcast about the Senior Managers and Certification Regime: the UK rules that make the people who run FCA and PRA-regulated firms personally accountable for what happens on their watch.

Hosted by Adrian Lawrence FCA, a Chartered Accountant, Fellow of the ICAEW and founder of SMF Capital, a specialist recruitment practice for Senior Manager appointments, each episode explores what accountability really means in practice. We talk to the people who hold Senior Manager roles, the boards that appoint them, and the advisers who help them get approved.

Topics include:

• how to prepare for regulatory approval and regulator interviews
• what "reasonable steps" look like when something goes wrong
• life as a compliance officer, MLRO, chief risk officer or chair
• fractional and interim Senior Manager careers
• the Consumer Duty, operational resilience and financial crime
• board governance and the regime's latest reforms

Episodes are practical, candid and free of jargon, aimed at Senior Managers, aspiring Senior Managers, compliance and risk professionals, and the boards of regulated firms.

Our website : SMF Capital

Guests we're looking for

We'd love to hear from:

• current and former Senior Managers: compliance officers, MLROs, chief risk officers, COOs, chief executives and chairs at regulated firms
• non-executive directors and committee chairs at banks, insurers, wealth managers, payments firms and fintechs
• regulatory lawyers, compliance consultants and skilled persons
• fractional and interim compliance and risk professionals
• specialists in financial crime, the Consumer Duty, operational resilience and crypto-asset regulation

Guests don't need to name their firm, and we're happy to keep discussions general where confidentiality matters.