We completed the latest upgrade to ATEB Suitability on 6th April 2021. This update comes at no additional cost and has focused on upgrading our Costs and Charges & Periodic Review templates.
Full details of the enhancements can be found in the tables below, but some of the highlights are:
Upgraded ‘Costs and Charges Statement’ template(s)
It has been 2 years since we launched our Ex-Ante/Ex-Post Costs and Charges Statement template, designed to assist firms in meeting their disclosure requirements under MiFID II. Since then we have observed how the industry has adapted to provide customers with this information and we have taken the opportunity to refresh our template to meet changing needs. As a result, the ‘Ex-Post’ and ‘Ex-Ante’ tables have now been separated into their own standalone templates and the ‘Ex-Post’ costs and charges statement has undergone a wholesale upgrade to include a host of new features and benefits:
- Firms can now aggregate the cost and charges associated with all of a client’s existing plans in one document and express the impact these charges have had on the portfolio as a whole.
- The ‘Cost and Charges Summary’ table now automatically calculates the percentage amount of each pound sterling cost entered, as a percentage of each plan’s current fund value.
- The MiFID II cost category definitions of ‘Service Costs’, ‘Product Costs’ and ‘Third Payments’ can now be reworded to use a firm’s own definitions, with the ability to identify within each table row, which costs are ‘actual amounts’ or ‘reasonable estimations’.
- The upgraded template also provides firms the ability to complete a separate costs and charges statement for multiple clients within a single printable document.
Upgraded ‘Periodic Suitability Review’ template
Firms can now generate an ‘Ex-Post’ costs and charges statement from within the ‘Periodic Suitability Review’ template. In addition, the plan data and fund values captured within the ‘Existing Plans’ table of the template automatically draw through to the ‘Ex-Post’ costs and charges table for both client 1 and 2 to ensure the completion of the statement is as streamlined and efficient as possible.
Consolidation of the ‘Continued Suitability Review’ and ‘Periodic Suitability Review’ templates
To ensure firms have the ability to produce confirmation of continued suitability reviews and ‘Ex-Post’ cost and charges statements within a single document, we have incorporated the ‘Continued Suitability Review Letter’ into our ‘Periodic Suitability Review’ template.
| Please note: As a result of the changes above, the standalone ‘Continued Suitability Review Letter’ template is being renamed ‘Continued Suitability Review Letter (Legacy) and will be retired from the application. ATEB will continue to provide access to this legacy template for a period of 3 months at which point it will be removed. For those firms wishing to complete a continued suitability review we recommend you use the ‘Periodic Suitability Review’ template instead. |
New Content Integration with Synaptic Software
Synaptic software have provided their risk profile definitions and descriptions from Synaptic Risk Explorer as well as introductory text for inclusion within your suitability reports. For more information please see the Synaptic Risk Explorer website.
New Phased Investment Functionality
Firms now have the ability to phase lump sum investments into both new and existing investment/retirement plans by selecting a new ‘Action Applicable’ of ‘Phased Investment/Contribution’. This newly added section prompts firms to outline the initial percentage amount being invested along with the frequency and number of occurrences the remaining percentage amount will be invested over.
Multiple Currency Support
We have added multiple currency support functionality across all templates within the application. Firms can now select the type of currency they wish to use at the outset of their report from any of the following currencies:
- GBP – Great British Pound
- EUR – Euro
- AED – Emirati Dirham
- AUD – Australian Dollar
- USD – United States Dollar
- CHF – Swiss Franc
- ZAR – South African Rand
- CAD – Canadian Dollar
- HKD – Hong Kong Dollar
- SEK – Swedish Krona
- SGD – Singapore Dollar
- JPY – Japanese Yen
Upgraded Investment/Retirement Plan Charges table functionality
The charges table of the main ‘Suitability Report’ template now provides firms the ability to deduct the initial advice fee from the initial investment/contribution amount for all new investment/retirement plan recommendations.
Increased Company Template Storage
Firms can now create and store up to 50 Company Templates (increased from 20).
Template Change Detail
Main Suitability Report
| Change at a glance | Location | Detail |
| Enhanced charges table functionality. | Getting Started page → Investment Advice/Retirement Advice → Investment/Retirement Plan Charges page → Will the initial advice charge be deducted from the investment? Yes | Firms are now able to deduct the initial advice fee from the initial investment/contribution amount for all newly recommended investment and retirement plans. |
| ‘Duplicate Plans’ charges table functionality. | Getting Started page → Is this report to be written on a Joint Basis? Yes → Investment Advice → Investment Plans page → Is this a New or Existing Plan? New → Product drop down (Please tick the box if you wish to duplicate this product recommendation for client 2) → Investment Plan Charges page | For ‘duplicate plans’, the ‘Investment Plans Charges’ table now accommodates a separate breakdown of charges for both client 1 and 2. |
| Enhancements to ‘Discounted Alternatives’ and ‘Further Considerations’ tabs. | Getting Started page → Retirement Advice → Retirement Plans page | The section options of the ‘Discounted Alternatives’ and ‘Further Considerations’ tabs are now linked to the recommendation being made via the ‘action applicable’ selections. In addition, for firms wishing to provide further personalised information in support of their recommendations, each tab now comes with its own ‘Personalised Free Text’ section. |
| Optional Inheritance Tax (IHT) simplification introduction. | Introduction to Advice page → Current IHT Position → Do you wish to calculate the client’s current IHT position in table format? Yes | Firms now have the ability to simply introduce the concept of Inheritance Tax (IHT) and outline the potential IHT liability amount without completing a table. This is achieved by the addition of the following question on the ‘Current IHT Position’ tab: ‘Do you wish to calculate the client’s current IHT position in table format? Yes/No’ |
| Updated glossary items. | Appendices page → Glossary of Terms → Glossary page | Changes have been made to the ‘Stamp Duty Land Tax’ and ‘Land Transaction Tax’ glossary items following the English and Welsh Government’s recent announcements that the temporary increases to the lower threshold limit have been extended. |
| New ‘Action Applicable’ of ‘Phased Investment/Contribution’. | Getting Started page → Investment Advice/Retirement Advice → Investment/Retirement Plans Page → Plan Details → Action Applicable: Phased Investment/Contribution | Firms are now able to recommend the phasing of a lump sum investment into any new or existing investment/retirement plan. |
Periodic Suitability Review Report/Letter
| Change at a glance | Location | Detail |
| The option to create a ‘Continued Suitability Review Letter/Report’ has been added. | Eligibility Criteria page → Periodic Suitability Review or Continued Suitability Review? → Continued Suitability Review | The ‘Continued Suitability Review’ and ‘Periodic Suitability Review’ templates have been consolidated into a single template. |
| Ability to generate an ‘Ex-Post’ costs and charges statement from within the ‘Periodic Suitability Review’ template. | Getting Started page → Would you like to include a Costs and Charges Statement? Yes → Cost and Charges (Ex-Post) page | Firms are now able to complete their periodic suitability review reports/letters and disclose the cost and charges that have applied to the clients’ existing plans in one seamless document. |
| Valuation date fields and total values added to the ‘Existing Plans’ table. | Review Details page → Existing Plans | Valuation date fields and total values have been added to the ‘Previous Fund Value (£)’ and ‘Current Fund Value (£)’ columns of the ‘Existing Plans’ table. |
Costs and Charges Statement
| Change at a glance | Location | Detail |
| Enhanced ‘Cost and Charges Statement’. | Create a New Report → Ex-Post Costs and Charges Statement | The ‘Ex-Post’ costs and charges statement has been refactored to aggregate all of a clients’ charges across their entire portfolio into one document. |
Continued Suitability Review Letter
| Change at a glance | Location | Detail |
| The standalone ‘Continued Suitability Review Letter’ has been renamed ‘Continued Suitability Review Letter (Legacy)’ and will soon be retired from the application. | Eligibility Criteria page → Periodic Suitability Review or Continued Suitability Review? → Continued Suitability Review | The ‘Continued Suitability Review’ and ‘Periodic Suitability Review’ templates have been consolidated into a single template. Firms can now complete their confirmation of continued suitability review reports/letters and disclose the cost and charges that have applied to the client’s existing plans within once seamless document. (see ‘Periodic Suitability Review Report/Letter’ above. |
Content Management
| Change at a glance | Location | Detail |
| New Mortgage Lender added to Content Management. | Content Management → Providers/Platforms | Descriptive text for Platform Home Loans has been added to the ‘Providers/Platforms’ feature of Content Management. |
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.
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