Upcoming Events

Our current programme is listed below. Choose a session to see the full details and book your free place on Eventbrite. You’ll receive joining instructions by email, along with a reminder before the session starts.

If the calendar doesn’t load, or you’d like to be told about new dates as they’re added, email recruitment@smfcapital.co.uk.

Why We Run These Events

The Senior Managers and Certification Regime places personal accountability on named individuals, and it has changed more in 2026 than at any point since it was extended to all FCA solo-regulated firms. Firms and Senior Managers need to understand those changes, but most of the available material is either the rulebook itself or a long legal briefing. Neither gives much space to the practical questions: how to plan an appointment around the regulator’s timetable, what an interviewer from the FCA is really testing, or how to cover a Senior Manager who leaves without warning.

We deal with those questions every day running SMF searches. The events are a way to share what we see across many appointments with the people who need it, in a format that leaves plenty of room for discussion. They complement our written SMF designation guides, the Senior Manager Functions explained pillar guide and our podcast, SMF Unlocked.

Our events can be found as follows:- Eventbrite  Eventbrite UK  Eventbrite DE  Eventbrite ES

Event Formats

SMF Briefings

Our core format is a focused online briefing of around 45 minutes, followed by questions. Each briefing covers one topic in depth: a designation, a stage in the approval process or a regulatory change. Briefings are open to anyone with an interest in the regime, and they’re designed to be useful whether you’re a board member, a compliance professional or an HR or company secretarial lead managing approval applications.

Round Tables

Round tables are smaller online discussions for a limited number of participants, usually people in similar roles such as independent chairs, MLROs or founders preparing for authorisation. They’re held under the Chatham House Rule, so participants can share experience openly, and places are allocated to keep the group balanced.

Candidate Clinics

Candidate clinics are for people preparing for their first Senior Manager role or their next one. We cover how the regulator assesses candidates, how to present your experience against the fit and proper test, what to expect from regulatory references, and what to ask a firm before accepting personal accountability for part of its business. Any individual questions about your own situation can be picked up afterwards in a confidential conversation.

Topics We Cover

The programme changes as the regime develops, but most sessions fall into one of four themes.

The Designations

What the regulator expects from each Senior Manager Function and what separates candidates who are approved from those who struggle. Sessions draw on our guides to the SMF1 Chief Executive, SMF4 Chief Risk, SMF9 Chair, SMF16 Compliance Oversight and SMF17 MLRO and SMF24 Chief Operations functions.

Getting Approved

How the approval process works in practice, including the application, the regulator’s assessment period, interviews and the most common causes of delay. We also cover how long an SMF appointment actually takes and how to plan notice periods around it.

Accountability in Practice

The Conduct Rules, the Duty of Responsibility, and what recent FCA enforcement tells us about the “reasonable steps” a Senior Manager is expected to take. We also cover the Consumer Duty from the Senior Manager’s perspective.

Building the Senior Team

Firm-level questions: which SMFs apply at each firm tier, assembling a team for FCA authorisation, moving from Core to Enhanced, allocating Prescribed Responsibilities, the 12-week rule after the April 2026 reforms, and when fractional or interim SMF cover is the right answer.

Who Should Attend

Our events are for anyone who holds, hires or supports a Senior Manager Function in a UK regulated firm. Regular attendees include:

• Board chairs, non-executive directors and committee chairs.
• Chief executives, finance directors and other executive Senior Managers.
• Compliance officers, MLROs, risk leaders and their deputies.
• HR, governance and company secretarial teams who manage approval applications and the Responsibilities Map.
• Founders and senior teams at firms preparing for FCA authorisation.
• Senior professionals preparing for their first Senior Manager role.

Sessions cover firms across the regulated market, including payment and e-money institutions, investment and wealth managers, consumer credit lenders, insurers and intermediaries, banks and building societies, and overseas firms with UK branches. Where a topic affects dual-regulated firms, we cover the role of the Prudential Regulation Authority alongside the FCA.

How Booking Works

All bookings are handled through Eventbrite. Select a session from the calendar above, register with your name and email address, and you’ll receive a confirmation with the joining link. Places at briefings are free. Round tables have limited places, and we may confirm those individually to keep the group balanced.

Sessions run online, so you can join from anywhere in the UK or overseas. We’ll email a reminder before each event. If you can’t attend after booking, please cancel through Eventbrite so the place can go to someone else.

Professional Development

Many attendees record our briefings as part of their continuing professional development. Whether a session counts, and how, depends on the rules of your own professional body, so please check with them. We’re happy to confirm your attendance by email.

Privacy and Confidentiality

We use your booking details to run the event and send joining information. We won’t share your details with any firm, and we’ll only contact you about future events or roles if you’ve told us you’re happy for us to. Round tables are held under the Chatham House Rule, and we don’t record them.

In-Person Events

We’re starting with online events so that people across the country can take part. We plan to add in-person events in our main markets, starting with London, followed by Birmingham and Bristol. If you’d like to hear about those first, or you’d be interested in hosting or co-hosting a session, email us at recruitment@smfcapital.co.uk.

Speak at an SMF Capital Event

We welcome speakers with first-hand experience of the regime, including current and former Senior Managers, board chairs, compliance and risk leaders, and regulatory lawyers. If you have a practical perspective to share, or a topic you think we should cover, get in touch. We’re particularly interested in speakers who have taken a firm through authorisation, a move to Enhanced status, or a significant regulatory review.