Mark Turner, Managing Director in Duff & Phelps Compliance and Regulatory Consulting practice, spoke to Thomson Reuters about how recent enforcement action against a firm for IT outsourcing failures highlights the UK regulator’s view that outsourcing is a first-line responsibility under the Senior Managers Regime (SMR), and how it has come at a time when firms are experiencing more problems with outsourced functions.
"SMR firms will need to consider how they agree to accountabilities for outsourcing. Firms will have to be explicit about senior managers' responsibilities for outsourcing arrangements. If they cannot demonstrate that reasonable steps have been taken to manage outsourcing arrangements appropriately, individuals and firms could face enforcement action ... In a larger firm, having one individual responsible for all outsourcing will be rare. In the modern world, there will be senior managers with responsibilities for outsourced functions over which they don't have control. That's going to be difficult for firms to come to terms with and they're grappling with how to allocate responsibility," Mark said.
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