Insurance training and consultancy provider Searchlight has launched a dedicated regulatory compliance support service. The new service is aimed at SME insurance providers looking for a flexible high-quality outsourced compliance support service on either a one-off or an ongoing basis.
The new service is headed by Searchlight director Peter Farmer who explains: “We have found that many firms, particularly medium-sized firms, in particular, are increasingly aware that satisfying the FSA’s open-ended requirements requires a level of expertise they cannot readily or affordably resource in house. We have brought together a team of individuals with the breadth and depth of experience to identify and manage any compliance-related issues they are likely to encounter. Employing this level of experience and expertise in-house is an expense most smaller firms are not willing to take on, so having us on call provides a much more practical and attractive alternative.”
Searchlight’s regulatory and compliance support services are available on a very flexible basis offering a range of solutions, from a one-day health-check to add hoc project-based interventions and ongoing support via a regular monthly retainer. Searchlight is offering the assurance of a bespoke personalised service with a single dedicated point of contact over time.
“Compliance consultancy is a very logical extension to our service offer at Searchlight,” Farmer continues. “We have offered training on all aspects of FSA regulation from day one; but for a number of reasons we have not previously felt the timing was right to offer a compliance consultancy service.
“For one thing, the standard of provision available to SME firms has been distinctly mixed – and there is inevitably a reluctance to be associated with that – but I also think it has taken a while for people to appreciate that a rules-based colour-by-numbers approach simply doesn’t provide an adequate response to the FSA’s thematic principles-based regime.
“A lot of the money spent on outsourced compliance services to date has not actually offered a particularly good return on investment. We wanted to dissociate ourselves very clearly from the people who have come into (and, in many cases, now left) the market to make a quick buck. We have taken the time to put together a highly experienced, capable and practically-minded group of individuals capable of delivering the quality and scope of service SME insurance firms need at a price that’s highly affordable.”
