Grant Thornton and Clifford Chance offer operational resilience service

Grant Thornton UK LLP and Clifford Chance LLP have announced they have agreed a partnership to offer the UK financial service sector entities a “one-stop shop” to secure operational resilience compliance. 

The collaboration aims to provide clients with access to business and legal support in order to help them meet regulatory requirements and optimise their operating models.

As of 31 March 2022, the UK Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority will mandate a framework for operational resilience for the first time. 

The firms said that the new rules and guidance covering customer harm, market stability and outsourcing reliability will mean that banks; building societies; designated investment firms; insurance firms; e-money; and payment services firms will “need to look beyond business continuity in their internal operations”.

Sandy Kumar, head of financial services group and business risk services at Grant Thornton, said: “We are excited to announce this collaboration with Clifford Chance as it will address the need we’re seeing from the financial services sector for a one-stop-shop, bespoke offering which helps navigate the complicated path to compliance with new operational resilience regulations.  

“By combining the practical advisory experience of Grant Thornton’s specialists with the breadth and depth of Clifford Chance’s legal team we can offer an agile, tailored service that addresses the unique needs of any size of regulated enterprise.”

Monica Sah, financial regulation partner at Clifford Chance, added: “We’re very pleased to announce this collaboration with Grant Thornton as we believe there is real value in an integrated approach to supporting our clients in this area, ensuring that the operational resilience challenges our clients face are fully covered by our combined expertise.”