Banking HR Management and Regulatory Compliance Training Course

Course overview

Bank HR teams operate where employee decisions can become conduct, prudential, data-protection and governance issues. Hiring a senior risk-taker, setting sales incentives, recording misconduct, approving fitness and propriety, or managing a whistleblowing case can trigger obligations that extend beyond normal HR policy. This course helps HR professionals and banking managers build defensible people processes that support regulatory expectations, protect customers and create reliable evidence for internal audit, compliance and regulators.

Participants examine the HR control points across the employee lifecycle: regulated recruitment, role classification, fit-and-proper assessments, remuneration governance, conduct standards, disciplinary investigations, training records, whistleblowing and controlled exits. They learn to translate requirements from the FCA Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR), EBA internal-governance guidance, data-protection rules and internal risk frameworks into practical HR workflows. The course develops skills in compliance gap analysis, control design, evidence management, escalation and regulatory-ready reporting.

Delivered through instructor-led sessions, banking case studies and applied workshops, the programme uses realistic scenarios involving sales misconduct, senior-manager accountability, certification lapses and incentive-risk reviews. Participants work with policy templates, a regulatory obligations matrix, risk-and-control registers and an employee lifecycle evidence checklist. They leave with a tailored Banking HR Compliance Action Plan: a prioritised set of process improvements, ownership assignments, control evidence requirements and measures for implementation in their institution.

The course is suited to intermediate HR practitioners working in banks, building societies, digital banks, lenders and regulated financial-services groups. It is equally valuable for compliance, risk and operational leaders who need HR processes to withstand scrutiny while remaining workable for managers and employees.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Map banking regulatory obligations to recruitment, onboarding, performance, remuneration and exit processes
• Classify regulated roles using a role-mapping and accountability assessment method
• Design a fit-and-proper assessment workflow with documented decision criteria and evidence records
• Build a conduct-risk control matrix linking people risks, controls, owners and testing evidence
• Evaluate remuneration structures against risk-adjustment, malus, clawback and conduct requirements
• Run an HR compliance gap analysis using a policy-to-control evidence checklist
• Prepare investigation and disciplinary records that preserve confidentiality, fairness and auditability
• Produce a prioritised Banking HR Compliance Action Plan for implementation in a regulated institution

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Banking HR Managers — who own people policies and need to evidence that they meet regulatory expectations
• HR Business Partners — who advise regulated business leaders on hiring, conduct, performance and employee risk
• HR Compliance Officers — who monitor HR controls, regulatory obligations and remediation actions
• Talent and Resourcing Managers — who recruit senior managers, certified staff and other controlled-function populations
• Reward and Benefits Managers — who design incentive arrangements that must not encourage misconduct or excessive risk-taking
• Risk, Compliance and Internal Audit Professionals — who review the effectiveness of employee lifecycle controls in banking

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience in HR, compliance, risk or operational management within a bank or other regulated financial-services organisation. They should understand core HR processes such as recruitment, performance management, employee relations, learning records and remuneration, and be able to read internal policies and process maps. Familiarity with basic regulatory concepts, including conduct risk, governance, data privacy and audit evidence, is helpful. No legal qualification, coding ability or prior specialist knowledge of SM&CR is required. Participants do not need access to their employer's live HR system during the course.

Training methodology

The instructor uses short technical briefings to establish the regulatory context, followed by bank-specific case analysis and facilitated working sessions. Participants map a sample employee lifecycle, assess controlled roles, test a remuneration scenario and review investigation evidence against defined criteria. Small groups use templates modelled on HR control registers, obligations matrices and audit evidence logs, then defend their decisions in peer challenge sessions. Each day closes with application to participants' own operating environment, culminating in an individual Banking HR Compliance Action Plan.

Course outline

Day 1: Banking HR regulation, governance and employee risk

• Banking HR as a first-line control function
• Employee lifecycle regulatory risk mapping
• FCA Senior Managers and Certification Regime fundamentals
• EBA internal governance expectations for people management
• Conduct risk, customer outcomes and staff behaviour
• Three-lines-of-defence responsibilities for HR controls
• Building an HR regulatory obligations register

Workshop: Participants create an employee lifecycle risk map that identifies regulatory obligations, control owners and evidence points for a retail banking scenario.

Day 2: Regulated recruitment, role governance and certification

• Regulated-role taxonomy and population segmentation
• Senior manager accountability and statements of responsibilities
• Certification employee assessment criteria
• Fit-and-proper decision-making framework
• Pre-employment screening and regulatory reference controls
• Competence, training and continuing professional development records
• Onboarding evidence packs and annual recertification calendars

Workshop: Participants build a fit-and-proper workflow and evidence checklist for appointing a new head of lending to a regulated role.

Day 3: Conduct, performance, investigations and speak-up controls

• Translating conduct rules into HR policies and manager guidance
• Conduct-risk indicators in performance management
• Misconduct intake, triage and escalation protocols
• Fair investigation planning and evidence preservation
• Disciplinary decision records and consistency controls
• Whistleblowing confidentiality, non-retaliation and case governance
• Management information for conduct and employee-risk committees

Workshop: Participants review a sales-misconduct case file, identify evidence gaps and prepare a defensible investigation and escalation plan.

Day 4: Remuneration governance, data privacy and HR control assurance

• Risk-adjusted remuneration principles in banking
• Balanced scorecards and conduct-linked performance measures
• Deferral, malus and clawback control design
• Identified staff and material risk-taker remuneration governance
• GDPR lawful processing and HR data minimisation
• HR records retention schedules and access controls
• Control testing, issue logging and remediation tracking

Workshop: Participants assess a relationship-manager incentive plan, identify conduct and remuneration risks, and recommend control amendments.

Day 5: Audit-ready HR compliance and implementation planning

• HR compliance gap-analysis methodology
• Policy, process, system and evidence alignment
• Designing a banking HR risk-and-control matrix
• Internal audit preparation and evidence walkthroughs
• Regulatory examination and management-information readiness
• Issue prioritisation, ownership and remediation milestones
• Measuring HR compliance control effectiveness

Workshop: Participants complete and peer-review a Banking HR Compliance Action Plan containing priority gaps, controls, accountable owners, evidence requirements and implementation dates.

Tools & standards covered

Workday HCM, SAP SuccessFactors, FCA Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR), ISO 37301 Compliance Management Systems

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions