Advice giant St James’s Place (SJP) has joined forces with fintech firm Comentis and wellbeing support service MorganAsh to roll out tools for its partners to help them identify and tackle financial vulnerability among clients.
This comes as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) found nearly 28 million UK adults estimated to be at risk of financial vulnerability at any one time.
SJP has given partners access to Comentis’ technology to allow them to identify financially vulnerable clients through an online assessment process.
The assessment provides a report determining the nature of any vulnerability, what it means, and what to do, which can be stored to create an audit record of vulnerabilities and actions taken.
The advice firm has worked with Comentis over the last year to run trials and provide feedback on the tool.
Also, SJP partners now also have access to the MorganAsh Resilience System (Mars), a platform that uses answers from client consultations to calculate an objective rating on the degrees of vulnerability for each client and provide recommendations on next steps.
Mars also supports advisers when conducting mental health assessments, when introducing clients to the concept of power of attorney, in bereavement counselling, when providing tailored longevity estimates to inform retirement planning, and when assisting customers in sourcing care for later life.
‘Navigating complexities’
Edward Grant, director of technical connection at SJP, said: “Supporting clients in vulnerable circumstances is hugely important so we are thrilled to be able to provide our partners with two ground-breaking technologies that quickly spot signs of financial vulnerability which will ensure our clients receive the best possible support.
“Not only does this lead to a better outcome for clients, but it provides much-needed support for advisers navigating some of the complexities in supporting vulnerable clients.”
Jonathan Barrett, chief executive of Comentis, said: “At a time of mounting regulatory pressure and increasing customer vulnerability, deploying tech powered solutions that will better support firms such as SJP in the identification and triaging of vulnerable clients has never been more paramount.
Andrew Gething, managing director of MorganAsh, added: “Increasing regulatory pressure from the FCA to ensure vulnerable clients are treated fairly means it is more important than ever for financial advisers to have the capabilities to fully understand and support their customers.”
