The decision by the FCA to consider incorporating the recording of advice calls with clients within its implementation of MiFID II has caused a lot of debate within the advice industry.
There are those that view it as a sensible extension of the rules that will protect the best interests of advisers going forward and there are those that view it as another example of over-regulation permeating their professional lives. A survey among members of the New Model Business Academy found that 85% of view the call recording facet of MiFID II as “a step too far.”
Whichever camp you belong to, there is one unavoidable fact – this piece of regulation is not going away.
The central aim of the regulation is to protect the interests of both client and adviser. A recorded call provides definitive proof as to the advice process given to a particular client. In the event that the client decides to take their adviser to the Financial Ombudsmen Service over bad advice, the adviser will have all of the tools necessary to defend themselves.
It may seem akin to using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, but the regulation is intended to be in the best interests of everyone. Not every conversation will be handed to the regulator – only those linked to cases that result in a complaint. And who wouldn’t want every available resource available to defend themselves? That’s the theory, at least.
One justifiable complaint that has arisen from advisers, centres on the cost of implementing such an operation. Looking at comment boards on the various news articles about the necessity to record calls from the MiFID II implementation date, currently 3 January 2018, it appears that cost estimates amongst advisers have varied wildly.
Whilst there will be options to carry out this functionality that do cost as much as £50,000 per year – the highest estimate that we saw – this simply does not have to be the case.
Users of Intelliflo’s Intelligent Office (iO) practice management system already have the option to add a low-cost and effective call recording option through a partnership with call recording experts, RingCentral.
All calls, on landline or mobile, can be recorded and saved against that client’s record in iO. As client data within iO can already be sent to the regulator at the click of a button, answering queries about recorded conversations can be passed on in the same way, making the process easy and efficient.
This addition to iO enables advisers to remain compliant with call recording requirements in a hassle-free, cost-effective manner. There is no need to spend thousands of pounds or carry a recording device around everywhere. Just carry on business as usual and the software will do the rest.
