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.



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Paul Jay Compliance assessment tool, Conduct, DB Pension, DBAAT, Defined Benefit, FCA, FOS, Pension, PI, Senior Manager, SM&CR, Switch, transfer
Most firms will have at least vague recollections of the FSA’s thematic review of pension switching and the report it produced in December 2008. It produced a flurry of activity, but as time has elapsed it has perhaps become a distant memory, despite the high volumes of replacement business that have been and continue […]