About 1,000 law firms did not have compliance officers in place on 1 January.
Firms were required to have approved Compliance Officers for Legal Practice (COLPs) and Compliance Officers for Finance and Administration (COFAs) in place by 01 January, however, although individuals were approved at more than 8,800 firms, more than ten per cent of firms have failed to meet the deadline.
Nearly 200 firms had not completed the nomination process.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority said the situation was better than it had anticipated a few weeks before.
It said it will not impose automatic loss of authorisation on firms and individuals who do not receive their approvals in time.
SRA director of risk Andrew Garbutt said: “There are some firms which came very late to the process, or who delayed providing us with further information when required to do so, consequently these have not yet received notification of our decision concerning the nomination.
“In cases where we now have all the information we need, I anticipate we will be able to make a decision shortly. We are making every effort to ensure firms and individuals know the status of their nominations.
“However, despite repeated requests, there remains a number of firms who have not co-operated with us. In these cases, we will begin the appropriate level of enforcement action, including revocation of their authorisation.”
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