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Insights for boards and senior leaders
The Executive Blog
Practical articles on hiring and leading at the top of a business: C-suite and board appointments, executive pay, fractional and interim leadership, and Senior Manager roles in FCA-regulated firms.
All articlesFCA and SMF rolesBoards and NEDsCEOs and MDsCFOs and finance leadersTechnology leadersFractional and interimHiring and successionPE and family offices
Guidance for boards and the people they appoint
Founders, chairs, investors and executives ask us the same questions again and again. When does a growing business need its first CFO or a full-time CEO? What should a COO earn? Is a fractional executive enough, or is it time for a permanent appointment? We publish our answers here, in plain English and grounded in the searches we run every week.
Articles are written by founder Adrian Lawrence FCA, a Fellow of the ICAEW, and our search team. They cover leadership hiring and succession, executive compensation and equity, board and non-executive appointments, private equity and family offices, technology leadership and Senior Manager Function appointments in regulated firms, and we update them when the rules or the market change.
For boards and investors, we cover how to scope a senior role, what to pay, how to assess candidates and take references, and when interim or fractional leadership makes more sense than a permanent hire. For executives, we cover interviews, offers and equity, notice and restrictive covenants, and the move from an executive career to a board portfolio. We also follow the regulatory changes that shape senior hiring, from the Senior Managers and Certification Regime to the UK Corporate Governance Code.
New to the topic? Start with one of our core guides, or use the search and topic filters above to find what you need.
Start here
Executive salary guide →What C-suite and director roles pay across the UK. What is a fractional executive? →How part-time C-suite leadership works and what it costs. CEO succession planning →A practical guide for UK boards. SMF roles guide →Every Senior Manager Function, and who needs approval.FCA and SMF roles
Showing 37–48 of 55
CEO Appointments at Challenger Banks: PRA Expectations and Dual-Regulation RealityCEO Appointments at Challenger Banks: PRA Expectations and Dual-Regulation Reality Appointing a Chief Executive at a UK challenger bank sits inside a…Read more →
Recruiting a CEO for an FCA-Authorised Firm: What Makes the Brief DifferentRecruiting a CEO for an FCA-Authorised Firm: What Makes the Brief Different Appointing a Chief Executive at an FCA-authorised firm sits within…Read more →
Statements of Responsibility (SoRs) and What Boards Should Consider Before Appointing an SMFStatements of Responsibility (SoRs) and What Boards Should Consider Before Appointing an SMF Statements of Responsibility — almost always shortened to SoRs…Read more →
What the Senior Managers Regime Means When Recruiting at Board LevelWhat the Senior Managers Regime Means When Recruiting at Board Level Board appointments at FCA-regulated firms operate inside a regulatory framework that…Read more →
Permanent, Interim or Fractional: Which Compliance Hire Does Your Firm Actually Need?Permanent, Interim or Fractional: Which Compliance Hire Does Your Firm Actually Need? One of the most consequential decisions in a compliance search…Read more →
How to Choose a Compliance Recruitment Agency That Understands the FCAChoosing a Compliance Recruitment Agency That Understands the FCA Hiring a senior compliance professional into an FCA-regulated firm is a meaningfully different…Read more →
The Compliance Recruitment Agency Checklist: What Regulated Firms Should Be AskingThe Compliance Recruitment Agency Checklist: What Regulated Firms Should Be Asking Choosing the right compliance recruitment agency is one of those decisions…Read more →
Why Your Compliance Hire Keeps Falling Through (And What to Do About It)Why Your Compliance Hire Keeps Falling Through (And What to Do About It) If you have been trying to fill a compliance…Read more →
How long does FCA SMF approval actually take? A realistic timeline for regulated firm boardsThe Gap Between the Statutory Position and Reality The FCA’s statutory position on SMF approval timelines is reasonably well known: the regulator…Read more →
How the FCA Form A approval process works: a practical guide for regulated firm boardsWhat Form A Is and Why It Matters Every individual appointed to a Senior Management Function at an FCA-regulated firm must receive…Read more →
How SMCR is changing the senior appointment timetable for FCA-regulated firmsBoards at FCA-regulated firms approaching senior appointments often underestimate the timetable. The substantive search work — brief, market mapping, candidate engagement, assessment…Read more →
Insurance & Liability for Fractional LeadersEngaging a fractional executive raises a question that a permanent hire rarely does: who carries the risk when a part-time leader is…Read more →Knowledge Centre
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Structured guides that bring the best material together by topic. See the full Exec Capital Knowledge Centre and our Insights.
About the Exec Capital blog
Exec Capital is a specialist executive search firm and one of the five specialist firms of FD Capital Group. We appoint CEOs, CFOs, COOs, CTOs, Managing Directors, commercial and HR leaders, non-executive directors and Senior Manager Function holders on a permanent, interim and fractional basis across the UK, from our offices in London and the West Midlands.
Hiring for your leadership team? See our executive search services and the C-suite roles we recruit. Looking for a role? Register as a candidate or browse live executive jobs.
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