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PLEASE NOTE: Discounts of 10% offered to x3 or more persons from the same company. Please contact training@comsuregroup.com for more information

“Suitability of Advice” A Workshop for Wealth Managers, Advisers, Trustees

INTRODUCTION

Suitability no longer only applies to the adviser but everyone associated with investment and wealth management.  With this in mind, Comsure has organised a focused workshop for Wealth Managers, Advisers, Trustees other associated parties who help and advise their clients on their investments.

Our speaker has over 29 years' experience in financial services and is a Chartered Financial Planner, a Fellow of the Personal Finance Society and a Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI) and CISI Chartered Wealth Manager.

CORE TOPICS FOR THE DAY  

This workshop will look at the processes and considerations all good advisers should consider when assessing "suitability".

These processes and considerations will include:

a.    Law and Regulation - the requirement to provide suitable advice

b.    assessing suitability – the thought process behind decisions

c.    The consumer's circumstances - relevant considerations

d.    Investment selections and considering the features of the investment

e.    UK/CI ombudsman considerations

THE BUSINESS DRIVER

Suitability or lack of it is probably the greatest source of client complaints.  Furthermore, the requirement to unravel a complaint that occurred a few years early can be extremely costly in every sense of the word.

Numerous cases show that “Suitability” is not understood and although many see automated 3^rd party risk profiling tools as the answer.  Unfortuanelty, this one size, fits all type approach is not a solution in itself; although it may be the starting point for a conversation, it does not provide all the answers.

With the regulator and ombudsman separating advice and the underlying investment decisions you should be able to demonstrate how you arrived at the solution and how it meets the client's risk profile, circumstances and objectives and would you be able to justify your decision both now and in the future?

THE REGULATORY DRIVER

Looking at recent FCA, GFSC, JFSC and Ombudsman (both UK and the Channel Islands) findings, it seems there is still much work to be done in managing suitability.  These regulatory failures included financial advisers who……

1. Failed to take appropriate account of clients' capacity for loss despite assessing their attitude to risk;

2. Used poor questions in risk questionnaires which had over-sensitive scoring and inappropriate weighting;

3. Had not developed ‘robust’ processes to identify customers who could not tolerate capital losses;

4. Had used vague labels to explain risk to clients, such as categorising risk tolerance on a scale of one to 10;

5. Focused too much on the risk of capital loss and failed to consider investors’ wider objectives and risks posed by liquidity, inflation, correlation and counterparties;

6. Used volatility as a proxy for risk and ignore other risks, this can result in investment selections that, for example, include complex assets that are not suitable given the risk the customer is willing and able to take;

7. Failed to understand the risked posed by certain products (e.g., money market funds and other certain asset classes);

8. Relied on fund labels like 'balanced' and look at the underlying asset allocation;

9. Relying too heavily on information from a product provider when researching the suitability of an investment; and

10. Had gaps in the provider’s information and as a result, the firm failed to understand the nature of the risks of the product leading to inappropriately lower risk ratings.

Could one or more of these descriptions be you, if so come and hear how you can avoid the risks that would follow one or more of these matters crystallising?

EVENT SPEAKER

Adrian Kemp: Managing Director - Retirement Services

Adrian joined Brooks Macdonald in 2014 and leads the private client arm of our international business.

Adrian worked at DPZ Capital Limited before its acquisition by Brooks Macdonald, the Royal Bank of Canada and Abacus Financial Services Group. He has over 29 years' experience in financial services.

Adrian is a Chartered Financial Planner, a Fellow of the Personal Finance Society and a Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI). He is also a CISI Chartered Wealth Manager.

EVENT DETAILS

·         Venue: Pomme d'Or Hotel

·         Date: 12th December 2016

·         registration Time: 12 noon

·         start Time: 12.15

·         finish Time: 13.45

·         Cost: £55.00 per person

Discounts: 10% off the total price for x3 or more people from the same organisation

·         CPD: 1.5 Hours – certificates issued after the event