We have completed the latest upgrade to ATEB Suitability on 14th August 2022. This update comes at no additional cost and provides various template related enhancements as well as a new addition to our content integration library.
Full details of the enhancements can be found in the tables below, but some of the highlights are:
New Content Integration with EBI (Evidence Based Investing)
We have partnered with EBI to provide access to a description of their service via the ‘Providers/Platforms’ functionality as well as adding descriptions for their 22 portfolios via ‘Investments’. These descriptions can be enabled by a Company Administrator via the Content Integrations screen.
Vantage is EBI’s discretionary MPS service and was created to provide an optimised ‘tolerance-based’ rebalancing service, aiming to minimise the frequency of rebalancing and the volume of trades, thus reducing the cost of rebalancing and improving portfolio performance. EBI offers 2 suites of portfolios, the Vantage Earth and the Vantage Earth UK Bias, with 11 portfolios within each suite.
New ‘Benefit Crystallisation Event (BCE)’ section
For recommendations pertaining to the crystallisation of pension benefits, we have added a new ‘Benefit Crystallisation Event (BCE)’ section to the ‘Retirement Plans’ page. This allows firms to capture the total amount crystallised against the client’s LTA and provides as a lead in to our new ‘Lifetime Allowance (LTA)‘ section (see below).
New ‘Lifetime Allowance (LTA)’ section
A new ‘Lifetime Allowance’ section has been added to the ‘Important Information’ page and provides firms the ability to (a) explain what the LTA is and how it works (b) outline whether the client has any protections in place and if so, what the LTA limit for the specific protection is, and (c) outline the impact any planned crystallisation of benefits will have on the relevant LTA applicable to the client in both % and £ amounts.
Upgraded ‘Ex-Post/Ex-Ante Costs & Charges Statement’
When disclosing the ex-post and ex-ante costs and charges applicable to the client’s existing investment and pension plans, firms can now choose between using the existing MiFID II ‘bucket list’ costs category definitions and a new list of ‘industry standard’ cost category definitions.
In addition, the underlying logic within the ex-post table has been upgraded to automatically calculate values ‘both ways’ i.e. when entering a cash amount (£) the table will automatically calculate the percentage equivalent amount (%), and when entering a percentage amount (%) the table will automatically calculate the cash equivalent amount (£).
Please note – in order to accommodate the new costs category definitions we have had to amend the ex-ante table from a static 3 row table to a new repeating table using ‘(+) add row’ functionality. This will mean any existing ex-ante statements that are ‘in progress’ at the time the update went live will lose some of the percentage (%) and cash (£) values already added to the table. If you have an ex-ante statement in progress at the time of reading this, please double check to determine whether any values need to be re-entered.
Upgraded ‘Periodic Review’ template
Firms can now disclose any initial charges applicable to the client using a new ‘Initial Advice Charges’ table. Firms will be prompted to capture the initial charges on either a ‘total’ basis or ‘individual plan’ basis.
We have also reworked the format of the ‘Existing Plans’ table to provide a cleaner, less cluttered look.
New ‘Summary of Advice’ functionality
Firms can now choose the ‘Summary of Advice’ sub-section to appear as either the first or last section within the ‘Introduction to Advice’ section.
Defaqto Engage Risk Profile images
We have updated the Defaqto Engage risk profiles stored within our software. The update means each of the risk profiles will now pre-populate within the generated report with a corresponding risk image.
Suitability Report Template
| Change at a glance | Location | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| New ‘Benefit Crystallisation Event (BCE)’ wording | Getting Started page → Retirement Advice → Retirement Plans page → Plan Details tab → ‘Will the recommendation(s) to take benefits lead to a Benefit Crystallisation Event (BCE)?’ = ‘Yes’ → Further Considerations tab | Firms can now capture the amount that will be crystallised against the client’s relevant LTA when recommending decumulation of pension funds. |
| New ‘Lifetime Allowance (LTA) wording. | Getting Started page → Retirement Advice → Important Information page → Lifetime Allowance tab | Firms are now provided with a range of supportive wording prompting the user to explain what the client’s LTA is and what impact any planned crystallisation of benefits will have on the LTA in both % and £ amounts. |
| New ‘Summary of Advice’ functionality. | Introduction to Advice page → Summary of Advice tab | Firms can now choose the ‘Summary of Advice’ sub-section to appear as either the first or last section within the ‘Introduction to Advice’ section. |
| New ISA allowance warning. | Getting Started page → Investment Advice → Investment Plans page → Select Product: any new/existing ISA product → Plan Details tab → ‘Include ISA allowance warning?’ = ‘Yes’ | Firms can now choose to include an ISA allowance warning within the main body of the report, informing the client that if they do not use their full annual ISA allowance before the end of each tax year any unused allowance cannot be carried forward into future tax years. |
| ‘Fund Selection’ section now optional for ‘Whole of Life’ recommendations. | Getting Started page → Protection Advice → Protection Plans page → Select Product: ‘Whole of Life’ → ‘Include Fund Selection Section?’ = ‘Yes/No’ | For pure protection WOL recommendations it is now possible for firms to remove the ‘Fund Selection’ section from the report. |
| New ‘Socially Responsible Investing Preferences’ wording. | Introduction to Advice page → Socially Responsible Investing Preferences tab | It is now possible to confirm (a) that the client does have socially responsible investing preferences and what those preferences are, or (b) that the client does not have any socially responsible investing preferences at this time. |
| Glossary item update. | Getting Started page → Retirement Advice → Appendices page → Select Appendices: Glossary of Terms | We have removed the ‘Pension Wise’ glossary item and replaced it with the ‘Money and Pensions Service (MaPS)’. Reference is still made to the Pension Wise service provided via MaPS. |
Periodic Review Template
| Change at a glance | Location | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| New ‘Initial Advice Charges’ table. | Eligibility Criteria page → ‘Periodic Suitability Review or Continued Suitability Review?’ = ‘Periodic Suitability Review’ → Further Information page → ‘Do you wish to outline any initial advice fee(s) payable by the client(s) following this review?’ = ‘Yes’ | Firms can now capture any ‘initial’ charges applicable to the advice provided in table format. |
| Reworked ‘Existing Plans’ table. | Review Details page → ‘Existing Plans’ table | The existing plans table in the generated report has been reformatted to provide a cleaner look and feel. |
| ‘Client’ name added to the ‘Fund Performance’ section. | Review Details page → ‘Fund Review’ section = ‘Fund Performance’ | ‘Client’ name added to the ‘Fund Performance’ section of both the wizard and the generated report to ensure consistency with the ‘Fund Switch Recommendation’ section. |
| ‘Client’ name added to the ‘Recommended Plans’ section of the wizard navigation bar. | N/A | We have added the ‘client’ name to the wizard navigation bar in order for users to identify the appropriate plan recommendation for each client more easily. In addition, we have added the ‘client’ name to the ‘Recommendation(s)’ section of the generated word report/letter. |
Ex-Post/Ex-Ante Costs & Charges Statement
| Change at a glance | Location | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| New list of ‘standard’ cost category definitions added. | N/A | Firms can now choose to categorise the costs and charges disclosed by selecting from a list of ‘industry standard’ definitions. |
Ex-Post Costs & Charges Statement only
| Change at a glance | Location | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Upgraded calculation logic. | N/A | Table will now calculate the cash equivalent amount (£) of each percentage amount (%) entered and/or the percentage equivalent amount (%) of each cash amount (£) entered. |
Abridged Advice Template
| Change at a glance | Location | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Risk profile images reformatted. | N/A | The risk profile description and corresponding image that appears within the generated report have been reformatted to provide consistency of output alongside the ATR sections of the Periodic Review and Suitability Report templates. |
Please don’t forget we have a collection of ‘how to’ guides, articles and hints/tips via our FAQs which are available on our Help & Support Portal.
Our support team are available 9am – 5pm / Mon – Fri to answer any further questions you may have support@atebsuitability.co.uk / 0191 338 8177.
Tax Year End Update
Doug McFarlane Suitability 2024, Pension, transfer, Update
Our report writing software has been fully updated on 6th April 2024 to accommodate changes to allowances, rates and reliefs for the 2024/25 tax year. Full details can be found below: Pensions Existing ‘Lifetime Allowance’ wording removed and replaced with new ‘Lump Sum Allowance (LSA)’ and ‘Lump Sum and Death Benefit Allowance (LSDBA)’ wording. In […]