The FCA employs a principle based approach to regulation. Principle 7 states that “A firm must pay due regard to the information needs of its clients, and communicate information to them in a way which is clear, fair and not misleading.”
This is a fundamental cornerstone required of all client communication.
While some degree of technical information is inevitable, your suitability reports should nevertheless be easily understood. One effective way to test the clarity of your suitability reports is to ask a friend or family member, who has no financial services experience, and who is more likely to provide frank observations, to read and to provide critical feedback.



Consumer Duty – the shape of things to come?
Paul Jay Compliance 2021, complaints, Conduct, email, FCA, Pension, Pension Transfer, PI, platform, Register, Switch, transfer, Xplan
In its numerous publications prior to the implementation of Consumer Duty, the FCA promised that it would be more proactive and take a forward looking view, rather than acting with the benefit of hindsight – something for which it has received criticism previously. We’ve been waiting to see how this would pan out and didn’t […]