At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead FCA authorisation and enhance compliance policies in a dynamic digital asset lending firm.
- Company: Ambitious lending firm focused on digital assets, offering a hybrid work environment.
- Benefits: Flexible working hours, competitive salary, and long-term fractional role post-authorisation.
- Other info: Opportunity for significant career growth in a rapidly evolving industry.
- Why this job: Be at the forefront of compliance in the exciting world of cryptoasset lending.
- Qualifications: Experience as an FCA-approved SMF16/SMF17 with a strong compliance background.
The predicted salary is between 80000 - 100000 £ per year.
Location: London (hybrid — mix of office and home working)
Structure: Full-time initial engagement, reducing to a fractional ongoing arrangement
Start: Immediate
FD Capital is working with an ambitious lending firm operating in the digital asset space — providing lending secured against cryptoassets — as it pursues FCA authorisation. The firm is seeking an experienced compliance professional to lead the authorisation project and stand as its named SMF16 (Compliance Oversight) and SMF17 (MLRO). This is a genuinely hands-on mandate with a strong head start: the policy suite is already drafted.
Your job is to bring a critical, regulator's eye to it — reviewing and strengthening the policies, procedures, and financial crime framework, and shaping the systems and controls narrative that carries the application. And you will be the individual the FCA assesses — so you must be ready for, and confident in, the Senior Manager fit and proper interview.
The engagement structure is deliberately front-loaded. An initial block of full-time work covers the authorisation application, a rigorous review and uplift of the existing policies and procedures, and preparation for FCA engagement. Once the firm is authorised and the framework is embedded, the role reduces to an agreed number of days per week as the ongoing outsourced SMF16/17 — giving you a long-term fractional appointment on the other side of an intensive, well-defined project.
What you'll do:
- Lead the FCA authorisation application end to end: permissions scoping, regulatory business plan input, systems and controls documentation, and Connect submission.
- Review, critique, and strengthen the firm's existing compliance policies and procedures — AML/CTF, financial crime, conduct, cryptoasset financial promotions, governance, and the compliance monitoring plan — bringing them to the standard the FCA expects at the gateway.
- Stand as the named SMF16 and SMF17 on the application and represent the firm through FCA assessment, including your own fit and proper interview.
- Post-authorisation, hold both functions on a fractional basis: SAR reporting, regulatory returns, Board MI, training, and day-to-day FCA liaison.
Who this suits:
A current or former FCA-approved SMF16 and/or SMF17 holder with a clean, demonstrable approval history and the credibility to perform strongly in an SMF role.
Senior DirectChief Compliance Officer & MLRO Designate (SMF16 & SMF17) — FCA Authorisation Mandate | Digital Asset-Backed Lendingor Finance employer: FD Capital Recruitment
FD Capital is an exceptional employer, offering a dynamic work environment in the heart of London with a hybrid working model that promotes flexibility and work-life balance. As a key player in the innovative digital asset space, employees benefit from engaging in meaningful projects that shape the future of finance, alongside ample opportunities for professional growth and development within a supportive and collaborative culture.
