One compliance person can cover a full regulatory function
— without failing FCA approval, hiring at £150k, or working a single extra hour.
You're doing the job of three people and it still isn't enough. Here are the seven parts of the sole-compliance-officer load you can legally hand off this month — and how to prove your controls are working, before the FCA ever asks.
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Find three gaps you can't evidence, or lunch is on me
Written by a sole SMF16/SMF17 holder with two decades at the regulatory coalface, across seven regulators.
- £124m
- Record FCA fines in 2025, mostly AML control failures
- £21.1m
- The Monzo fine for policies that existed on paper but weren't evidenced in practice
- ~1 in 4
- Compliance teams that say they're adequately resourced
Which of these is the FCA most likely to fine you for?
Take a guess — then see how often it's the one you'd least expect.
What if the fix isn't another all-nighter — it's handing off the grind?
Picture the FCA knocking tomorrow and you don't reach for the binder and pray. You open the monitoring file, the board packs, the change log — and you show them the controls working, line by line, because someone closed the gap months before anyone asked.
Every founder's instinct is “work harder” or “hire someone.” But the maths on a £145k–£175k first-year hire never closes for a role you need ten hours a week — and the FCA says a few-hours-a-week SMF tends to fail approval anyway.
You can't outsource the role. You can outsource the work.
Keep the senior judgement. Hand off the grind. That distinction is the whole game.
Tools you keep and run. Not a report you skim.
The Hire-vs-Fractional Cost Calculator
Find your firm by AUM or revenue and watch the £37k–£133k a full-time hire costs you in year one — money you don't need to spend — appear in black and white.
The Documented-vs-Evidenced Checklist
The nine control points where the FCA asks “show me it's working,” with the exact evidence that answers each. The gap that fined Monzo.
The Offload Map
The seven parts of the sole-officer load you can legally hand off under a retained in-house SMF — and the parts you must keep on your own name.
“Will a Fractional MLRO Pass FCA Approval?”
The regulator's own words on part-time SMFs, and the one structure that's compliant by design. Neutralises the fear before it's raised.
The Board-Pack MI Template
Turns your monitoring into board-ready proof that controls work, before the regulator asks. Goes beyond the dashboard the FCA says isn't enough.
The RegData Deadline Map
Every return, every schedule, no automatic £250 fees, no supervisory flags. The calendar doesn't care that you're on your own; this map does.
The Sole-Officer Exposure Scorecard
Twelve questions that score your personal liability and tell you the single gap to close first.
The Cost-of-a-Gap Projection
What one section 166 review or one un-evidenced control actually costs, next to what real cover costs. The asymmetry that makes the decision obvious.
It's not just the manual. It's the whole kit.
- Doing the Job of Three
- The Hire-vs-Fractional Cost Calculator
- The Documented-vs-Evidenced Checklist
- The Offload Map
- The Sole-Officer Exposure Scorecard
- A 30-minute Compliance Cover Call
Written by a Senior Operator.
Asad Bukhory — founder of Artizan Governance. Two decades at the regulatory coalface, across seven regulators, holding sole SMF16 and SMF17 roles personally. The principal who does the work, knows your firm, and tells you straight.
They leave you with a PowerPoint. I leave you with a framework you can run.
Find three gaps the FCA could fine you for this week — or lunch is on me.
Read it. Run the checklist against your own controls. If you don't find at least three specific gaps between what you've documented and what you can evidence — not next quarter, this week — email me directly and I'll personally buy you lunch, anywhere in London. No catch, no small print.
— Asad Bukhory, Founder, Artizan Governance
Your name is on the Register. You don't have to carry it alone.
Doing the Job of Three hands you the seven tasks you can offload, the checklist that proves your controls work, and the maths that ends the hire-vs-stretch debate for good — free, in your inbox, in under ninety seconds. Read it this weekend. Close the first gap Monday.
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