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.
Discounting advice options
Alistair MacDougall Compliance FCA, Pension, Pension Transfer, PI, transfer, Update
A question that pops up from time to time is whether there is a need to discount potential options that are not being recommended. This was something that, in the early days of regulated advice, a few firms used to require advisers to include in suitability reports. Some still do. However, there has never been […]