Advocis has launched its revised, updated Best Practices Manual on a Web-based platform that can be accessed around the clock.

The new BPM has features that will help advisors build profitable practices while staying current with industry codes, standards and ethics, regardless of whether the advisor sells insurance, mutual funds or securities, says Steve Howard, president and CEO of Toronto-based Advocis.

The BPM will be updated regularly as regulators — the Mutual Fund Dealers Association, the Investment Dealers Association of Canada and designation-granting bodies the Financial Planning Standards Council and the Chartered Life Underwriter Institute — make changes.

Advisors will find the Web-based BPM a practical “how-to” guide that allows them to build their businesses in a compliant manner, says Howard. It is exclusively available to Advocis members as part of their membership, he adds.

However, he says, as Advocis develops the new BPM, it will continually consult stakeholders such as the MFDA and IDA. “It’s a work in progress,” he says.

The BPM has eight key components: marketing, advice delivery, business basics, technology, due diligence, regulation, codes and standards, and templates.

Advocis has substantially expanded the advice-delivery and due-diligence sections over previous versions of the BPM — formerly available on CD, Howard says.

The former section is designed to help advisors deliver value after the initial meeting with the client. It sets out the engagement process, aiming to put both advisor and client on the same page.

In the wake of recent industry scandals, regulators have been keeping a close watch on advice delivery, particularly the “know your product” process.

In that sense, says Howard, the BPM provides a “big win” for advisors. “As the regulators see what we are doing regarding advice delivery, it makes them more comfortable developing regulations. They can refer to the BPM. It allows them not to overdefine regulations and allows practitioners to develop practices that are sensible to apply.”

FIDUCIARY DUTIES

The due-diligence section outlines the fiduciary duties of advisors. It enables them to understand the issues quickly and how to protect themselves. Keeping up to date with this complex part of their work will help advisors avoid errors-and-omissions insurance claims, says Howard.

In the past, he says, advisors studied due diligence as part of earning their designation. But this section updates information that may be “stale-dated.”

The regulatory section deals with timely issues such as privacy legislation, product suitability, conflict of interest and disclosure on a multi-jurisdictional basis so that advisors will be aware of the regulations that govern them.

There are a variety of codes and standards to which advisors must adhere, and this section encompasses them all — whether they are voluntary or mandatory.

In the templates section, members will have access to about 40 forms for purposes such as marketing seminars, engagement letters, investment policy statements, insurance policy delivery and privacy.

These forms are not designed to be filled out online. They are designed to be downloaded and modified by advisors as they see fit. IE