
A summary of regulatory requirements for statements of advice
As noted in our previous article, a statement of advice is the main document that records advice provided to retail clients. The advice process Individuals obtain information about financial products in a variety of ways and in a variety of settings. An individual may talk to friends and family, their lawyer, their accountant and others who they trust when considering a financial product. Where advice is sought from a financial advisor, a financial services guide (FSG) will typically be provided to a client in the first meeting between the client and advisor. A statement of advice (SoA) will then either set out the advice or record the advice that was given. If the statement of advice is not itself the means by which advice is provided, then it must be…