Senior CASS Supervision Associate

Division – Supervision, Policy and Competition

Department – Resolution Strategy Operations and CASS

Salary: National (Edinburgh and Leeds) ranging from £51,200 to £66,000 and London £56,400 to £70,000 per annum (Salary offered will be based on skills and experience)

About the FCA

The FCA regulates the conduct of 45,000 firms in the UK to ensure our financial markets are honest, fair and competitive. Follow this link to find out more About the FCA.

The Resolution Strategy Operations and CASS (ReSOC) Department leads the FCA's drive to continually improve the protection afforded to client assets, thereby increasing consumer protection and strengthening market integrity. They do this by assessing risk and carrying out data analysis, as well as supervising firms' compliance with the Client Assets Sourcebook (CASS). 

What will you be doing?

As a senior associate you will build a specialism in client assets, gain an in-depth understanding of the CASS rules and their application to firms across a range of business models and sectors. You will have strong reasoning skills and sound judgement, with the ability to grasp technical issues quickly. You will also have good organisational skills to effectively manage completing priorities. Effective engagement with a range of internal and external stakeholders is also important, including the ability to influence firms.

• Leading engagement with firms on the remediation of CASS issues, including regulatory breaches

• Scoping and delivering assessments of firms’ compliance with the CASS rules, including where firms are at risk of failure. This will include analysing data (including client assets reconciliations), engaging with and questioning senior management of firms to ensure they deliver any necessary remediation

• Using judgement and sound evaluation to develop and propose CASS supervisory strategies to identify and mitigate harm

• Building and maintaining strong relationships with internal and key external stakeholders including the wider Specialist Directorate and FCA colleagues, regulated firms and auditors

• Ensuring compliance with all internal systems, processes, and requirements, including internal reporting and MI, ensuring relevant service level agreements (SLAs) are met

• Contributing to the continuous improvement of departmental processes by suggesting changes that result in more efficient use of resources and better outcomes

• Continually enhancing your knowledge and skills, and sharing knowledge with other team members

What will you get from the role?

• A unique opportunity to develop specialism in client assets supervision and enhance your knowledge of firms’ business models across different sectors

• The chance to mitigate the risk of consumer harm as a result of firms having inadequate client assets arrangements, including the impacts of any economic downturn faced by regulated firms in the UK

• Working with and influencing a range of key/senior stakeholders and industry professionals, both within and outside the FCA

• Working in a fast paced, supportive, and inclusive team environment

Which skills are required?

We are a Disability Confident Employer; therefore, disabled people or individuals with long-term conditions who best meet the minimum criteria for a role will go through to the next stage of the recruitment process. (To learn more about the Disability Confident Scheme Click Here)

Minimum   

• Experience of the FCA’s approach to CASS supervision, including the use of regulatory tools

• Experience of analysing technical/complex information (e.g. client asset reconciliations), and presenting key issues and proposing recommendations

• Experience of building and managing relationships with key internal and external stakeholders

Essential

• Practical understanding and experience of the UK client asset and/or safeguarding regime

• Strong judgement to identify and prioritise risks, and proposing suitable action/mitigation plans

• Excellent prioritisation and organisation skills, including managing a number of competing pieces of work at once, ensuring delivery against deadlines and quality is maintained

• Strong communication skills, the ability to communicate subjects clearly and confidently both orally and in writing

• Ability to work collaboratively as part of a team

Our Values & Diversity

We are proud to be an inclusive employer and our ambition is to cultivate a culture for all employees that respects their individual strengths, views, and experiences. We believe that our differences and similarities enable us to be a better organisation – one that makes better decisions, drives innovation, and delivers better regulation.

Within the workplace you will have access to various employee resource groups which aim to promote and achieve a healthy work / life balance and support our diversity

Did you know? 50% of our Executive Committee were the first in their family to attend university.

The FCA is committed to achieving greater diversity across all levels of the organisation. Given this, we particularly welcome applications from women, minority ethnic, disabled, and neurodivergent candidates for our Senior Associate role.

Benefits of working at the FCA

• 25 days holiday per year plus bank holidays

• Hybrid working (work from home up to 60% of your time)

• Private healthcare with Bupa 

• A non-contributory Pension of at least 8%

• Life assurance

• Income protection

We also have a competitive flexible benefits scheme which gives you the opportunity to create a personalised benefits package, tailored to suit your lifestyle.

We welcome applications from candidates who are looking for flexible arrangements.  Many of our staff work flexibly including working part-time, staggered hours, and job shares.  We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want but we can explore what might work best for both sides.

Follow this link to see what life is like at the FCA - Life at the FCA

Application Support

We are dedicated to removing barriers and ensuring our application process is accessible to everyone. We offer a range of adjustments to make your application experience as comfortable and straightforward as possible.

If you have an accessibility need, disability, or condition requiring changes to the recruitment process, please contact your recruiter using the details below and they will be happy to discuss this further with you.

Useful Information and Timeline

• This role is graded Senior Associate - Regulatory

• Advert Closing Date:  23:59 on 4th March

• CV Review/Shortlist: 6th March

• First Round Case Study Assessment: From 13th March

Your Recruiter will discuss the process in detail with you during screening for the role, therefore, please make them aware if you are going to be unavailable for any date during this time. 

Got a question?    

If you are interested in learning more about the role please contact:  

For internal applicants, please contact Lindsey Mackenzie at [email protected]

For external applicants please contact Chhavi Bartaria at [email protected] 

Applications must be submitted through our online portal. Applications sent via email will not be accepted.