Our specialist sites
Alongside our five recruitment brands, FD Capital Group runs four specialist sites. Regulatory Capital and Tax Capital are insight sites for regulation and tax. Broker Recruit and MLRO Capital are focused front doors for two of the most common regulated hires: compliance for broking firms, and the MLRO. Each one leads you to the right recruitment team when you are ready to act.
Focused sites for specialist audiences
Each of our five recruitment brands publishes guidance for the people it serves: FD Capital for finance leaders, Exec Capital for the C-suite, NED Capital for boards, Accountancy Capital for qualified finance teams and SMF Capital for FCA senior managers. Some subjects and some audiences, though, are better served by a site of their own.
Two subjects cut across several brands at once. Financial services regulation matters to a compliance officer, a chief executive preparing for authorisation and a board chair alike, even though each may be served by a different brand when it comes to hiring. Tax is one of the most specialised corners of finance, where technical change keeps reshaping what employers need. Regulatory Capital and Tax Capital gather the group’s insight on each in one place.
Two audiences need a more direct route. Broking firms, from insurance brokers to mortgage and consumer credit brokers, mostly need one thing from us: a compliance officer or MLRO they can get approved, often on a part-time basis. And across every type of regulated firm, the MLRO is the Senior Manager role we are asked about most. Broker Recruit and MLRO Capital speak directly to those two audiences. Their searches are delivered by SMF Capital, the group’s dedicated Senior Manager Function recruiter, and led personally by Adrian Lawrence FCA.
Four sites, each with a clear job
Two insight sites and two specialist recruitment sites, all part of FD Capital Group.
Regulatory Capital
Insight · FCA regulation and senior managers
Compliance news, guidance and resources for FCA-regulated firms and the senior managers who run them, with a direct route to SMF Capital and its sister firms for hiring.
Tax Capital
Insight · Tax careers and tax hiring
Insight on tax careers, tax teams and the tax hiring market, from the tax recruitment practice at Accountancy Capital. Its motto: tax doesn’t need to be taxing.
Broker Recruit
Recruitment · Compliance for brokers
Compliance officers, MLROs and Senior Managers for insurance, mortgage, consumer credit, investment and wealth brokers. Searches are delivered by SMF Capital.
MLRO Capital
Recruitment · MLRO and financial crime
Permanent, interim and fractional MLROs, deputy MLROs and financial crime leaders for FCA-regulated firms. Searches are delivered by SMF Capital.
Where regulation meets the people who carry it
For boards, chief executives, founders seeking authorisation, compliance officers, MLROs and the finance and HR teams who support them.
Every FCA-regulated firm depends on two things: the rules it has to follow and the people who are personally accountable for following them. Most compliance publications cover the first and stop there. Regulatory Capital covers both. Its articles explain what is changing in UK financial services regulation and then turn to the question a board faces next: who do we need, how senior, for how many days a week, and how quickly can they be approved?
The site covers news and analysis on the Senior Managers and Certification Regime, financial crime, Consumer Duty, cryptoassets, payments and consumer credit; an SMF recruitment guide that works through each Senior Manager Function in turn; a resources page with official sources and a digest of regulatory change; and a podcasts page gathering the group’s regulation-related episodes, led by SMF Unlocked. See our podcasts page for all five shows.
Recent articles include The Judgement Calls That Make a Good MLRO and Compliance Officer, MLRO or One Person for Both?
Regulatory Capital gives most prominence to SMF Capital, but it covers the regulated-firm services of every brand: FD Capital for regulated finance and compliance leadership, Exec Capital for executive senior managers, NED Capital for chairs and committee chairs, and Accountancy Capital for the finance team behind them.
Tax doesn’t need to be taxing
For tax professionals in practice and industry, and the businesses and firms that hire them.
Tax is one of the narrowest searches in finance. A VAT specialist and a private client tax manager share very little day-to-day knowledge, and each area of tax has its own legislation, HMRC processes and career path. Changes such as Pillar Two and the off-payroll working rules keep adding work to tax teams.
Tax Capital is written for both sides of that market. For employers it explains how tax roles differ and how briefs are changing. For tax professionals it covers the decisions that shape a career, from specialising in direct or indirect tax to moving from practice into industry. It covers corporate tax, employment tax, VAT, international tax, personal tax, private client and tax investigations, and the qualifications employers value, including the Chartered Tax Adviser qualification.
When a reader is ready to hire or move, Tax Capital hands over to the tax recruitment practice at Accountancy Capital, and it links out to every other brand in the group for roles beyond tax.
Compliance hiring for broking firms
For insurance brokers and MGAs, mortgage and consumer credit brokers, wealth and advice firms, and investment and stockbroking firms.
Broking firms face the same Senior Manager rules as much larger businesses, usually with a far smaller team. Most need a compliance officer and an MLRO, often combined in one person as the SMF16 and SMF17 functions, and many need that person for only a day or two a week. The candidate has to be approved by the FCA, and the firm usually needs them in place quickly.
Broker Recruit is built for that brief. It explains the roles in plain terms and leads straight to the services broking firms use most:
- Combined compliance officer and MLRO (SMF16/17)
- Part-time compliance officers for smaller firms
- RDR-qualified Senior Managers and certified advisers
- Support for firms going through FCA authorisation
Searches that start on Broker Recruit are delivered by SMF Capital. Where a broking firm also needs finance or executive leadership, Broker Recruit points it to FD Capital or Exec Capital.
Specialist MLRO and financial crime search
For any FCA-regulated firm appointing, replacing or covering its Money Laundering Reporting Officer.
The MLRO is the Senior Manager role we are asked about most often. Every firm covered by the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 needs a nominated officer, and in FCA-regulated firms that person usually holds the SMF17 function and personally carries responsibility for the firm’s anti-money laundering systems and controls. When an MLRO leaves, or a firm is applying for authorisation, the gap has to be filled quickly and with someone the regulator will approve.
MLRO Capital focuses on that one appointment and the financial crime team around it. It covers permanent, interim and fractional MLROs, deputy MLROs and financial crime leaders, and leads to SMF Capital’s specialist pages:
- MLRO recruitment (SMF17)
- Fractional MLRO and interim MLRO and compliance officer recruitment
- Urgent SMF replacement
- The MLRO role explained
Searches that start on MLRO Capital are delivered by SMF Capital and led personally by Adrian Lawrence FCA.
Finding the right starting point
- You run or advise an FCA-regulated firmStart with Regulatory Capital for the regulatory picture, then go to SMF Capital, or the brand the site points you to, when you need to make an appointment.
- You run a broking firm and need compliance coverGo to Broker Recruit. It is built around the compliance officer and MLRO roles brokers need most, including part-time arrangements.
- You need an MLRO, or your MLRO is leavingGo to MLRO Capital for permanent, interim and fractional MLROs and deputy MLROs.
- You are hiring into a tax team, or weighing a tax moveTax Capital explains the market; Accountancy Capital’s tax practice runs the search or holds the confidential conversation.
- You are a candidateRegister through any of our jobs boards. One registration covers the whole group, whichever site you found us through.
- Your hire is broader than theseGo straight to the brand that fits: FD Capital, Exec Capital, NED Capital, Accountancy Capital or SMF Capital, or contact the group and we will route your brief.
Part of the same group, the same network
None of the four sites is a separate business. They are run by FD Capital Group, and every enquiry they generate is handled by one of our five brands: SMF Capital for Broker Recruit and MLRO Capital, Accountancy Capital for Tax Capital, and whichever brand fits for Regulatory Capital. A reader who arrives through any of them has access to the same experienced consultants and the same shared candidate network of around 10,000 senior professionals as a client who comes to a brand directly.
The insight sites keep their articles practical and current, and note that their content is general information rather than legal, regulatory or tax advice. For the underlying rules, readers should always refer to the FCA Handbook or the relevant HMRC guidance.
Questions about our specialist sites
Who runs these sites?
All four are run by FD Capital Group. Regulatory Capital is written by the team behind SMF Capital and its sister firms, and Tax Capital by the tax recruitment practice at Accountancy Capital. Broker Recruit and MLRO Capital are run by SMF Capital.
Are they recruitment agencies?
Regulatory Capital and Tax Capital are insight sites. Broker Recruit and MLRO Capital are specialist recruitment sites, but their searches are delivered by SMF Capital, a trading name of FD Capital Recruitment Ltd, rather than by a separate agency.
Why use Broker Recruit or MLRO Capital rather than SMF Capital directly?
You can use either. The specialist sites are written for one audience each, so a broking firm or a firm replacing its MLRO can find the right information quickly. The search, the consultants and the candidate network are the same.
Is the content free?
Yes. All articles, guides and resources on the four sites are free to read, with no registration required.
Is the content regulatory or tax advice?
No. The sites publish general information to help readers understand the market and the issues involved. For decisions about your own firm or tax position, take professional advice and check the official sources.
I am a candidate. Do I register on these sites?
Register through any one of our five brand websites. All five share a single candidate database, so one registration is enough. See jobs boards and candidate registration.
Adrian Lawrence FCA
Founder, FD Capital Group
Adrian is a Chartered Accountant and Fellow of the ICAEW with a practising certificate, and a former listed-company Finance Director. His specialist knowledge of FCA regulatory frameworks and the Senior Managers regime shapes Regulatory Capital, Broker Recruit and MLRO Capital, and he personally leads every search that starts on the two specialist recruitment sites. His background as a chartered accountant underpins the group’s tax practice and Tax Capital.
More from FD Capital Group
Podcasts
Five shows covering CFO, C-suite, board, qualified finance and FCA Senior Manager hiring.
Jobs and candidate registration
All five jobs boards in one place, and why one registration covers the whole group.
About the group
How the five brands fit together and the principles behind every search.
Ready to hire for a regulated or tax role?
Tell us about the role and we will connect you with SMF Capital, Accountancy Capital’s tax practice or whichever brand fits, with a straight view of the market.