The Investment Funds Institute of Canada (IFIC) issued a trio of bulletins on Monday that aim to help financial advisors guide clients through the new reports available for the first time in 2017 that include the cost and performance of their portfolios as part of the client relationship model (CRM2) reforms.
One of IFIC’s new Advisors Insights bulletins addresses the opportunity advisors have to strengthen their relationships with clients by helping them understand the new disclosures, which are designed to improve investor decision making by enhancing transparency.
Specifically, the bulletin “provides some guiding principles to help frame advisors’ conversations, such as putting themselves in their clients’ shoes, acting as their clients’ financial coach and prompting clients to ask questions in order to gauge their understanding so that the advisor will know what new information to provide,” IFIC says in a statement.
The other two guides focus on preparing advisors to deal with clients’ specific questions on investment performance as well as on fees and costs.
“CRM2 is about much more than transparency and disclosure,” says Paul Bourque, IFIC’s president and CEO, in a statement. “We expect it will positively impact the relationships of dealers and advisors with their clients. The industry is committed to helping to strengthen investors’ knowledge and build their confidence to ask questions so that they will make better decisions to meet their needs.”
IFIC hopes the three new guides, Bourque adds, “will strengthen the quality of advisors’ conversations with investors about their investment returns and fees.”
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