Banks left little time to amend ‘bad apples’ rules before SMR

Personal accountability rules will also see rise in internal attestations and impact on recruitment

New rules aim to remove 'bad apples' from the banking industry

Lack of finality around rules on the provision of individual references to regulators in the UK is raising fears banks will not have enough time to implement changes to prevent so-called "rolling of bad apples" before the Senior Managers Regime (SMR) comes into force on March 7.

Under the SMR, enforced by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), senior management functions at banks – including chief executives, chairmen, chief risk officers and heads