"As the FCA Consumer Duty deadline approaches, it is essential that our members have the tools to correctly identify and support vulnerable customers"
Later life lending platform, Air, is offering its Academy members access to Comentis’s Financial Vulnerability Assessment tool.
With the advent of Consumer Duty due to increase the focus on supporting vulnerable customers, this tool is designed to assist advisers in better identifying, tracking, and helping these clients while at the same time documenting the steps they have taken.
Advisers can evaluate a customer’s financial vulnerability across the four triggers defined by the FCA: Health events, Life events, Resilience, and Capability.
In addition, Comentis’s financial vulnerability assessment tool creates reports that analyse the circumstances that could impact customers and identifies the measures advisers can take to support vulnerable customers in line with individual firm compliance frameworks.
Advisers who use Comentis will also be able to demonstrate compliance with Consumer Duty through several different avenues. The adviser can send a link to an assessment directly to customers so they can complete the forms online at their own pace. Completing the assessment is flexible and can also take the form of an in-person meeting or a Zoom call.
In addition, documented outcomes can be stored in WriteRoute, streamlining data governance admin by keeping all outcomes in a single view. Advisers can tailor their approach based on the recorded outcomes to continually ensure their practice is supporting customer needs, especially those of vulnerable customers.
The software will sit within the health section of WriteRoute (Air Sourcing’s fact find and suitability report function) and will be available for free to all Academy members who have completed the new Vulnerable Customer module.
Mike Taylor, managing director of Air Club, commented: “As the FCA Consumer Duty deadline approaches, it is essential that our members have the tools to correctly identify and support vulnerable customers while clearly documenting how good outcomes have been achieved. At Air, we understand that any legislative change can be a challenge and are committed to working with experts like Comentis to help our members carefully and successfully navigate through this process.”
Jonathan Barrett, CEO and co-founder of Comentis, added: “With this integration, our goal is both to simplify and to normalise the process of assessing clients for signs of vulnerability. Not only would this ensure advisers are providing the best outcomes, but it would also mean they can rest easy in the knowledge they’ve exercised the appropriate due diligence about vulnerable customers.
“By working with Air Group, and combining our technology, we’ve made it possible for advisers to easily identify at-risk customers with minimal impact on their existing fact-finding procedures.”
