On 9 December 2015, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a thematic review –

1. TR15/12: Wealth management firms and private banks: suitability of investment portfolios.

The review is part of a series of earlier reviews carried out in 2010 by the FCA in relation to suitability of discretionary and advisory investment portfolios, managed by wealth management and private banking firms for retail customers.

This latest review shows that:

1. a number of firms have taken steps to improve and demonstrate the suitability of customer investment portfolios
2. many firms need to make substantial improvements in gathering, recording and regularly updating customer information to support the investment portfolios they manage for customers
3. firms need to do more to ensure that the composition of the portfolios they manage truly reflects the investment needs and risk appetite of their customers
4. firms need to ensure that their governance, monitoring and assessment arrangements are sufficient to meet their regulatory responsibilities in relation to suitability

DLA piper Financial Services Regulatory team has produced an update which summarises the most important issues. Please click here or on the image below to access the alert.

http://bit.ly/1IYdQwz