Context

In March 2021 the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued its final rules requiring firms within the UK’s financial sector to ensure operational resilience. CBO supported First Central Group, a Guernsey-based UK motor insurance provider, to achieve and evidence compliance with the FCA’s rules.

Approach

CBO provided project management and business analysis resource to support First Central through the initial 1-year implementation period. This phase required developing an approach to complete analysis of 46 processes over 14 business areas.

This analysis resulted in the identification of 9 important business services. Through a series of workshops with stakeholders across the business, each important business service was mapped, and a test plan developed to identify vulnerabilities in operational resilience.

The volume and complexity of the information gathered across the organisation, as well as the requirement to meet the regulatory deadlines, required CBO to ensure a robust governance structure and effective risk management process were in place.

Following completion of the implementation phase, CBO provided a further 6 months support to embed change into business as usual. This activity ensured the organisation was prepared with the knowledge, tools and documentation required to continue implementing operational resilience throughout the FCA’s 3-year transition period.

Outcome

CBO supported First Central Group to successfully deliver the activity and documentation required to evidence compliance with the FCA’s Operational Resilience rules.

Continued support into the transition period was a natural extension of the partnership CBO continue to develop with First Central, ensuring the client is confident in its ongoing delivery of this complex regulatory compliance project.

Client Feedback

“I have been very impressed by how Lydia supported the Operational Resilience project. This was a very complex piece of change involving distilling complex FCA rules across the whole enterprise. The solution applied was pragmatic, proportionate to the nature of the business but also fully compliant with the requirements. It was also scalable and will remain appropriate for us over the coming years as we continue to grow.” – Risk & Compliance Director, First Central Group.