Audio Transcript

Where a Senior Manager holds multiple roles, clarity about what each role is and what it entails is essential. Within SM&CR, there is an inbuilt presumption of responsibility, meaning that a senior manager can be held accountable if they fail to show they have taken reasonable steps to prevent breaches or stop them from continuing to occur.

Knowing what you are responsible for then is the first step to protecting yourself. To ensure you have clarity, senior managers should refer to their statement of responsibilities.

This sets out the prescribed, overall and any other responsibilities the manager must fulfil. This is important to check regularly, particularly where a manager has been in a role for a considerable period of time, as it may be easy to overlook a responsibility or to assume that all is well in areas that are within your remit. Referring back to your statement of responsibility can help you to ensure you are taking reasonable steps with respect to each aspect of your roles.

Additionally, certain firms are also required to put in place a management responsibilities map describing the firm’s management and governance arrangements. This map is intended to clearly delineate responsibilities between different senior managers within relevant firms, with as little overlap or sharing of responsibilities as possible. By cross-referencing your statement of responsibility with the management responsibilities map, a manager performing multiple functions can ensure they have a clear picture of all areas for which they are responsible.