Financial Advisors: Improve Productivity, Client Service & Compliance
Is Meticulous Documentation Critical to your Business?
You communicate with your clients in many ways: face to face, by telephone, email, post, and fax. You also communicate with your client whenever you supply a brochure or product information, or show him a website from your laptop. It is important for your own protection that you keep detailed records of these communications, and you are required by law to do so.
It is also important to have easy access to all of this history when dealing with your client.
Are your procedures working?
No doubt you have procedures to ensure that all communications are recorded on paper and/or digitally, and are securely filed. But are the procedures always followed? And how much does it cost you to follow these procedures?
You lead a busy life. You are on the road much of the time. It is difficult to update your files on-the-go, and updating it later is a chore and can be prone to error.
Are your Records Open to Challenge?
Other than paper records that are signed and dated, most other records can be challenged, either as to their accuracy or the date and time they were created.
Many people rely on normal office software to supply proof (e.g. email archives) of what was said by whom and when. This is completely erroneous, as digital data by its very nature can be altered without leaving a trace. Only sophisticated software incorporating a secure tamper-proof audit trailcan be depended on in this way. All you need is one client to produce a contradictory version of an email and you have a potential problem.
Can you prove that you are complying with all applicable Regulations?
Brokers and other regulated entities have increasingly onerous obligations in communications and data relating to clients, providers, regulatory authorities, and procedures. Among these obligations is the requirement to retain all records in a secure way to ensure authenticity and completeness and to prevent tampering. Perversely, until now it has been easier to prove this compliance with paper records than with digital data.
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