Comply Launches Financial Services' First Agentic Compliance Platform MCP Server, Enabling Teams to Build Custom AI Agents Without Developers 
Reform is not welcomed uniformly
The removal of certain Senior Management Functions reduces process on paper. It also raises a more important question: what happens to the issue the process was designed to protect?
Firms may welcome a lighter administrative touch, but few intend to loosen their Fit and Proper standards. Many are choosing to retain them in full. The reasoning is pragmatic. If requirements tighten again in future, firms that have dismantled their controls will face a backlog and sustained pressure on their compliance teams. Certification raises a similar tension. Issuing certificates is a significant undertaking, yet there is little appetite to unwind the standards behind it.
One regime, two responses
Larger firms tend to value the structure SM&CR provides. Smaller firms feel its weight more acutely and want greater flexibility.
That divergence carries risk. If firms respond to the same regime in markedly different ways, the industry may see growing variation in culture, conduct and risk. Regulatory guidance is the counterweight. A clear, shared reference point supports consistency across firms and gives compliance teams a defensible position.
Accountability sits with compliance
Whatever changes at policy level, compliance professionals will continue to track the full detail of SM&CR. They are the individuals who answer if their firm falls short. For that reason, reform is unlikely to reduce the working burden on compliance teams, and may increase it during transition.
What firms should do now
- Retain Fit and Proper standards unless there is a clear, documented rationale to change them.
- Keep evidence of responsibilities, decisions and certifications current, so the firm can demonstrate compliance whichever way the rules move.
- Look to regulatory guidance for consistency, particularly where the rules leave room for interpretation.
The next generation
The conversation also turned to AI and its impact on those entering the profession. It will change how compliance work is done and how careers develop. The responsibility for today’s leaders is to ensure that it strengthens professional judgement rather than replacing the experience that builds it.