The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) reviewed feedback provided by respondents to the new conduct rules and regimes of the March 7th requirement where firms are responsible for taking reasonable steps to obtain appropriate references covering the last 5 (five) years instead of 6 and ‘as soon as reasonably practicable’ upon request containing ‘all relevant information’ of which it is aware.

Requests for additional clarity or a standard template are under consideration. Third parties, such as First Advantage follow these guidelines for their background screening processes. References should be provided with due skill and care and be factual in content.

The financial services industry still remains in the forefront of background screening industry standards and risk mitigation.

In our white paper released earlier last month, First Advantage provided guidance on the proposed changes and how this could affect background screening within the industry in preparation for the proposed changes that went live 7th March.
To download the guide, please click here.