This article provides a step-by-step guide as to how you can quickly and easily write a suitability report to a client confirming your recommendations to top up an existing investment or pension.


1) Select or add the client


Go to write / view report and select or add the client to whom you wish to write the report.


2) Select the Report Creation Method


3) Create the report


In the Report Details, give the report a name and select the report type (assuming you're creating the report 'from scratch'). If you're only recommending a top-up then we'd suggest you use the Top-up / Bed & ISA report type. However, it is also possible to recommend a top-up in a Suitability Report, Review Report 2.0 or Review Report 1.0.  


4) Add the required advice sections


You’ll then be directed to the Report Builder where you should add the necessary sections from the 'sections' drop down, which in this case will be the

  • Review of Your Existing Investments (or Existing Pensions) 
  • Recommended Investment Strategy (Only if you're recommending a different investment strategy for the top-up amount or a change of investment strategy for the whole plan.)


5) Complete all section wizards


Next you'll need to step through the section wizards of all of the sections that require your input, starting with the Introduction Section.


6) Complete the Introduction Section


You will progress through the steps of the Introduction section in the usual way. When you reach the Client Objectives step you should select the objective: “Top up your existing *investment / pension* with *INSERT*”.


Having selected the objective you should click on the add kyc info link to the right. This will direct you to a new page where you can edit the wording of the selected objective (for example you could change it to something like "Top up your existing ISA with Transact"), and then add some further Know Your Client (KYC) information to it e.g.


“You wish to maximise the tax allowances available to you and invest a further £5,000 into your existing ISA with Transact before the tax year end”.


You can read more about what the FCA have to say about personalising client objectives here.


7) Complete the review section


You’ll be prompted to provide some basic information regarding the existing investment / pension within the Plan Summary step of the review section. As a bare minimum you should include some basic policy details e.g. provider name, policy number etc and complete the Current Fund Value £ and Top Up Amount £ field.


 Remember you do not have to enter a value for all fields. Empty columns will not be included within your report.


You may also wish to include details of the existing plan's Current Investment Strategy.


In the Recommended Action step, you will need to confirm what action you are recommending in respect to the plan, which in this case could be:

  • top up; or
  • top up and switch the underlying investments of; or  
  • top up and switch the model portfolio of; or
  • top up and rebalance the existing portfolio of.


You will also be prompted to summarise the on-going charges of the existing plan in the Plan Charges step. In those rare instances where the existing provider also levies a one-off initial charge on the top-up then you can highlight this charge to the client in the Disadvantages & Tax Implications step of the review section. You'll notice that we've included the following standard advice option to cover such an eventuality:


"*INSERT PROVIDER* will apply a one-off initial charge of *INSERT*% which equates to £*INSERT* of the recommended top-up to your existing *INSERT* investment." 


8) Possibly complete the Investment Strategy section


If you are recommending a different investment strategy for the top-up amount or a change of investment strategy for the whole plan then you can include details of the new investment strategy being recommended in this section.


9) Complete the Important Information section


This is the last section you'll need to complete and is self-explanatory.

 

10) Tailor the structure of the report


Having completed all of the section wizards you should then tailor the structure of your report by unchecking any sections you do not wish to include in your report; and then change the sort order of any sections to reflect your personal preferences. 


You’ll find more information about how to remove optional sections from your report here.


You'll find more information about how to reorder the sections here.


11) Download the report / covering letter


Click the download report / download cover letter icon and the report / covering letter will download to word.


Hope that helps!