FG26/9: Non-Handbook Guidance on COREPRU 7: Overall risk assessment

Finalised Guidance
Financial Conduct Authority Page 1 of 17
1 Introduction
1.1 As part of our strategy to become a smarter regulator and make the FCA prudential
framework more accessible and consistent for solo regulated FCA firms, we introduced an integrated sourcebook, COREPRU. COREPRU brings together core prudential requirements common across the different types of firms we prudentially regulate. Among those prudential requirements is an obligation to perform an overall risk assessment.
1.2 We developed this general guidance (Guidance) to help firms carry out their overall
risk assessment. It illustrates the comprehensive, integrated practice that takes a firm from understanding its business model, to articulating its risk appetite, setting its financial resource thresholds and implementing a robust framework for managing financial resources to minimise risks that may cause material harm. It also covers planning for winding down operations, where necessary, without causing material harm to customers and the UK market.
1.3 Relevant handbook rules in COREPRU have been situated within that illustrated
practice to emphasise that these rules should not be applied in isolation, but rather as part of a cohesive approach where each element reinforces and supports the others. Firms should adhere to the rules themselves and to their underlying role within that process, ensuring that each rule is applied thoughtfully as part of the firm’s overall risk assessment process. Non-Handbook guidance on COREPRU 7:
Overall risk assessment
FG 26/9
September 2026