Technology firm Comentis has launched a new analytics tool to help advisers manage their vulnerable customers.
The dashboard helps users to spot vulnerability factors across their whole client base with the aim of improving advisers’ insight and ultimately reaching better outcomes for consumers.
It will also help firms to meet their compliance obligations and the reporting requirements of the FCA.
Commentis says the dashboard uses insights gathered through its cognitive assessment engine (CAE) and presents the data in a clear way.
The tool flags which clients have been identified as potentially vulnerable and why, as well as recording the steps that have been taken to support them.
More importantly, firms can use the dashboard to highlight instances where action has not been taken, allowing them to provide more support where needed as well as monitoring risks.
Comentis chief executive and co-founder Jonathan Barrett says: “The collection and analysis of customer data is extremely important if we are going to improve the way we identify and support vulnerable customers. “However, we are often seeing the wrong type or incomplete data being used as a basis for both reporting and policy.
“This is further compounded by the piecemeal way it is collected. “Transactional and factfind data are a great place to start, but do not necessarily allow the identification of resilience and capability issues which is no longer acceptable or viable.
“This is where our clinical approach differs – our dashboard and analytics provide a unique insight into all the triggers that the FCA consider factors in identifying vulnerability.
“The whole point of our dashboard is to help individual advisers monitor and support their clients much more closely, especially when there are so many variables that could impact a person’s status.
“At the same time, the dashboard organises these findings in a clear and easy to decipher way, making reporting much more manageable and less time consuming. That means advisers can focus on what they do best – giving the right support to their clients.”
One of the firms that has already used the dashboard is Wessex Wealth Managers.
Its compliance officer Lisa Bailey says: “The new vulnerability dashboard and analytics are really helpful in monitoring not only our vulnerable clients as a whole, but also what actions we are taking as a firm to ensure no clients slip through the net.
“We are already finding the assessment tool really useful at an individual client level and being able to view trends and actions at a firm level will be invaluable. It’s also fair to say that it should make any future reporting a lot quicker and easier for us and that’s always a good thing.”