Policy and procedure for dealing with insistent clients July 23

Document Reference: PM-IC-001 Version: V2.2 Owner: Compliance Team — Promise Money Next Review Date: [To be confirmed]

Policy and procedure for dealing with insistent clients – ignoring your advice

Policy

The purpose

This guidance is relevant where a client of a firm becomes an insistent client and sets how, when dealing with an insistent client how to comply with the obligations under:

The  (see );

The  (see );

The  (see );

The rules on suitability in this chapter ( (Suitability (including basic advice)); and

The rules on record-keeping (see  (Record keeping and retention periods for suitability reports) and  (General rules on record-keeping)).

Who is an insistent client / execution only sale?

A client should be considered an insistent client where:

The firm has given the client a personal recommendation;

The client decides to enter into a transaction which is different from that recommended by the firm in the personal recommendation; and

The client wishes the firm to facilitate that transaction.

Avoiding foreseeable harm

Under consumer duty we must take steps to avoid foreseeable harm.

Execution only is also not permitted for debt consolidation It is therefore difficult to contemplate a scenario where a client would wish to go against our advice.

As a policy Promise does not support executions only sales

It is therefore the duty of the adviser to understand in greater detail why the client desires a product or outcome which appears to cause foreseeable harm.

Once such understanding has been gained, the advice can be amended taking into consideration the clients aims and the risks involved

It is not our duty to remove all risk. Therefore the risks a borrower may be taking must be property understood and detailed in the suitability letter together with the steps taken to mitigate the risks. They must also be explained verbally in the sales call and understanding confirmed by the borrower.

In the event, having fully understood the borrowers reason for wishing to proceed, the adviser cannot justify the advice, the application should be referred to a director for further consideration

Record keeping

All applications of this nature must be recorded as high risk and the appropriate process followed