A confidential SMCR appointment where the incumbent did not know.
An FCA-regulated firm needed to replace a senior manager function holder without the market — or the incumbent — learning that a search was under way. Full-market research, tightly sequenced approach.
Sector: Financial services. Market: London. Services used: Executive search, Executive search London.
An FCA-regulated firm needed to replace a senior manager function holder without the market — or the incumbent — learning that a search was under way. Full-market research, tightly sequenced approach.
The situation
An FCA-regulated firm had decided to replace the holder of a senior manager function. The role was not vacant, the decision had not been communicated, and the individual concerned was well known in a compact London market. Any visible search would have reached the incumbent within days and created both a regulatory and a reputational problem.
What we did
Full-market research first, with no approaches at all in the opening three weeks. We identified every credible individual across London and the commuter belt, verified SMCR certification and conduct status as part of the research rather than at offer stage, and delivered the population to the client before any contact was made. Approaches were then sequenced deliberately — small batches, no shared context between candidates, client identity withheld until the client authorised disclosure to a specific individual.
What the research found
Four findings that changed the decision.
The credible population was smaller than the client expected
Once regulatory status and genuine scope were verified rather than inferred from job titles, the realistic population was a fraction of the apparent one.
Two candidates carried regulatory history that mattered
Establishing this during research rather than at reference stage avoided an appointment that would have failed regulatory scrutiny late in the process.
Adjacent regulated sectors widened the field
Including individuals from adjacent regulated environments, rather than direct competitors only, added several credible candidates the client had not considered.
Package expectations were above the client's assumption
Benchmarking against named London comparators, with deferral treated properly, showed the initial package would not have cleared the market at this level.
The outcome
An appointment was made from the shortlist. The search never became visible: the incumbent learned of the decision through the client's own planned process, at the time the client chose. The full researched population and the reward benchmarking transferred to the client and informed the subsequent succession plan for two adjacent functions.
The point of it
In regulated senior appointments, verification is not administration to be completed after the offer. Treating certification and conduct status as research inputs is what prevents a late, expensive and public failure.
A note on confidentiality. Clients are never named without written consent, and we do not publish project values, candidate records or commercially sensitive figures. These accounts describe real engagement patterns with identifying detail removed. Where a specific number is not stated here, it is not a number we have published — please do not infer one.
How this engagement was structured
The commercial and methodological shape of the project, for readers assessing whether a similar approach would suit their own situation.
| Service | Executive search |
|---|---|
| Scope | A confidential senior appointment run without signalling to the market that the role existed. |
| Commercial model | Fixed project fee in pounds, agreed against a written scope before work began. No commission and no percentage of salary. |
| Data ownership | Every record produced transferred to the client permanently at the close of the project. |
| Lawful basis | Legitimate interest under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, documented for the project with an agreed retention period. |
Method
What we actually did
The decisions that determined whether this project produced something usable.
Disclosure sequence agreed in writing
Who would be contacted, in what order, what was disclosed at each stage, and the point at which the client would be named. In a small market this discipline is the entire job.
Long list shown to the client
The full credible field with the rationale for every inclusion and exclusion, before approaches began — the stage at which briefs most often change, and the cheapest point to change one.
Mobility assessed honestly
Notice periods, garden leave and unvested compensation quantified per candidate, so “interested” and “available” were never conflated.
Research handed over at close
The long list, market analysis and reward context transferred to the client rather than retained as the firm’s property.
What this engagement demonstrates
In a concentrated market, how you approach people matters more than how many you approach. One careless conversation would have told a competitor what the client was planning.
A note on how we present client work
Client identities and commercially sensitive details are withheld unless we hold explicit written permission to name them. Where figures are quoted they come from the engagement itself. Where an example is constructed to illustrate a method rather than describe a specific client, we label it as illustrative rather than presenting it as a case study. We would rather publish a less impressive page than an unverifiable one.
Questions we are asked about this work
Can we speak to a reference client?
In many cases yes, subject to the client’s agreement. Some engagements are confidential and will stay that way — which is itself a reasonable indication of how we would treat yours.
Would this approach work for our situation?
That is exactly what a scoping call establishes. Thirty minutes is usually enough to tell you whether the method transfers to your market and what the right scope and fee would be — including telling you if it does not transfer.
How much would a comparable project cost?
It is quoted as a fixed fee against a written scope, driven by market breadth, seniority and the depth of validation required. Because scope drives the fee, a meaningful figure needs a short conversation about what you actually need.
Recognise the problem?
Most of these engagements began with a client describing a symptom. Thirty minutes on a call is usually enough to work out what is actually causing it.