IFAtv.eu

Hi

Whilst I fully appreciate the position in terms of ensuring the client has comprehensive information, the truth of the matter is that this is mostly (and necessarily) about covering the IFA and the Network.

We are now so hidebound by overly complex and ever changing rules and regulations, the constant threat of litigation following the next piece of gutter press paranoia and / or punitive and retrospective regulatory change, that essentially, these lengthy reports are 50% to 70% there simply to cover our backs; they are certainly not there to help or advise the client in this respect.

How, then, can TCF possibly feature in this situation - a situation, remember, forced upon us by the aformentioned circumstances and created mostly by the very regulator and consumer groups that (suposedly) are meant to be acting in the best interests of the consumer?

A common complaint we've all encountered, is one of clients being baffled by the shear volume of information - this is obfuscation by complication - it may protect us, but it cannot truly be serving the needs of client understanding and clarity, as it detracts from it.

It's exactly like trying to read and understand something like Google's (or any number of other on-line companies) tems and conditions - typically a 90 page tour-de-force of complex drivel that in the end, no one reads because it's simply too tedious, too complex, too unfamiliar and too stupid to contemplate. So, on trust, we click "accept". It's only later that the complaints start rolling in and they all point to the warnings/terms and conditions, etc. that you clicked on, saying you'd read and understood. Yeah, right.

My point is that ironically, I believe that this level of complexity does, of its self, open up a hightened possibilty of client missunderstanding and therefore, ergo, to complaints of "I didn't understand". Is it any wonder?

Perhaps, as we're saddled with this literal nonsense situation, the answer is to produce a booklet in pdf format (so it can be emailed with a read receipt or printed and signed if required)?

Written in laymans terms, it would be entitled "Important things you need to understand". Inside, a "contents" page with various headings: "Investment Risk" " Changing Your Mind & Cancellation" How Investments Work" and so on.

It could be modular, so that when you retrieve a copy from the Financial Ltd Website (you knew there'd be more work here somewhere guys!) to accompany your report, you simply type in the clients basic details and the nature of the advice (or multiples thereof) being given, and all appropriate and up-dated modules are then compiled into a client titled PDF to accompany their much more concise, client focused, personalised report, that deals ONLY WITH THE ADVICE GIVEN, HOW IT WORKS AND WHY YOU'VE RECOMMENDED IT - nothing else.

I appreciate this would take some work to put together, but we could all contribute if required. However, once assembled and with a suitable up-date regime in place, such a customiseable generic client guide would mean that:

(a) The network can demonstrate control and regulation of these matters - thereby reducing risk
(b) The Network can be sure that such data was always consistent and up to date - thereby reducing risk again
(c) The Network could see / demonstrate from download records (because the website download would record the date of issue on each bespoke dowload module) that the correct modules had been downloaded and issued to the client in every case automatically (it could even be set up to issue this under a branded email direct from the network to the clients email address).
(d) The network members could focus more attention on information directly relevent to client advice information rather than IFA protection information in their reports
(e) We'd save a lot of paper
(f) We'd increase out poularity with both clients and advisers because both would be much happier in providing pertinent yet comprehensive information in a way that would be fair to all parties and more readily understood.
(g) advisers could be tested on content via the email CPD program to ensure they are keeping up with the details and not simply relying blindly upon it to be done for them (i.e. we all need to understand the position)

Apart from all that it's a crap idea.

Any thoughts, Ladies and Gentlemen?