Knowing your Customer – Fact Finding

A regulated entity must know and understand the clients situation and needs, prior to offering financial advise and/or recommending financial products. The level of information gathered must be appropriate to the complexity of the product or service being sought.

The fact find must include the clients needs & objectives, personal circumstances, their financial situation plus their attitude to risk.

If during a “Fact Find” a potential client refuses to provide the information sought, then the regulated entity must inform the client that it can not proceed as the required information is not sufficient to offer them the product or services they are asking about.

However should a potential client specify both product and producer so that NO  advice or information was provided then the regulated entity can proceed on an “Execution only” basis, no fact find is required and this should be noted / recorded.