Client’s own words (COWs).
This is a powerful and effective way of personalising suitability reports. When you gather know your customer (KYC) information (see ‘K’ blog post) try to record some of the client requirements and objectives using their own words, so that you can repeat the quotes back to the client in the reports.
This provides the ultimate in personalisation and is a great way to cement recommendations.
If you can quote something like
“Both you and Beth want to use you maximum ISA allowance for the next 7 years (when you plan to retire Tom) for the purpose of supplementing your retirement income but also to buy that camper van you’ve always wanted and fulfil your dream of driving around Europe”.



CIPs and Independence – what’s all the fuss about?
Paul Jay Compliance 2020, FCA, MiFID, Pension, PI, platform, Switch, Update
Many firms are now operating their own preferred investment solution – a Centralised Investment Proposition (CIP) – which they seemingly recommend to most, if not all, of their clients. Firms regularly raise questions with ATEB around the use of a CIP. What firms are usually concerned about is whether this impinges upon their ability to […]