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.



FCA – new power to vary or cancel permissions
Paul Caine Compliance Conduct, FCA, Register
The FCA can now vary or cancel permissions more quickly than previously applied. What is changing The FCA now has an additional power, which enables quicker action to: vary or cancel the statutory permissions to conduct FCA-regulated activities of many FCA-authorised firms, where those firms: appear to be carrying on no FCA-regulated activities for which they have permission, and […]