Probably the single most important aspect in report writing is relating your recommendations to your client circumstances and because no two clients are the same then your reports need to be unique. There will be elements of standardisation but by building your reports with unique content you will be reducing compliance risk and making it more relevant to your client and in turn it make it easier for your client to comprehend your advice.
The FCA rules do state that a suitability report should explain why the firm has concluded that the recommendation is suitable for the client having regard to the information provided by the client, so please do relate your recommendations specifically to your clients circumstances and keep them ‘Unique’.
FCS Transitional Arrangements
Steve Bailey Compliance Update
As you will be aware the Financial Services Authority ceased to be and the Financial Conduct Authority took over the regulation of financial advice firms on 01 April 2013.
The FSA issued PS13/05 last week which includes updated rules and transition arrangements. The policy statement itself is 88 pages but the ‘appendix (3)’ that accompanies it is a mere 1990 pages so you must excuse us for not as yet absorbing every word. The document can be seen here.