Making the introduction
Each step from a client mentioning something on a mortgage case to their first meeting with a planner, with the consent to take and the record to keep.
Each step from a client mentioning something on a mortgage case to their first meeting with a planner, with the consent to take and the record to keep.
Five things need to be in place before any adviser in your firm raises an introduction with a client. Each takes a few minutes to set up.
Your introducer or partner agreement with Equity & General is signed, and if your firm is an appointed representative, your network has confirmed in writing that it permits the arrangement.
One person at Equity & General who your firm calls with questions, and one person in your firm who answers internal ones.
Each adviser who will make introductions has a login to the partner portal.
It says that, with the client's agreement, you may pass their details to a regulated financial planning firm. If it does not, update it before the first introduction.
A field or note type in your case system for introductions, so the record sits with the client file.
The situations that lead to an introduction show up on a mortgage file. An adviser needs to recognise them and make a note.
Write down what the client said, in their words. That note is the reason for the introduction, and it is what Equity & General will read first.
Ask once, at a suitable point in the case. The end of the fact-find and the completion call both suit it. Use wording agreed in advance so that nobody in your firm improvises.
Wording you can use“You mentioned the money from your mother's estate. That is a pension and investment question, and those are outside what I advise on. I work with a firm of financial planners, Equity & General, who do advise on them. Would you like me to ask one of their planners to get in touch?”
If the client says no, record that they were asked and declined, and move on with the mortgage. If they say not yet, record when they would like to be asked again and put a date in the diary.
Do not explain what the planner might recommend, and do not suggest that a pension or investment would suit them. The question is whether they would like to speak to someone who advises on it.
Consent to the introduction is separate from consent to the mortgage work. Take it on its own, in a form you can show later.
For joint clients, take consent from each person. If one partner is keen and the other is not, introduce only the one who agreed, and only with the details that relate to them.
Where the person to introduce is not your client, such as a parent giving a deposit, you need that person's own agreement. Speak to them directly. A message passed on by the buyer is not consent from the parent.
The record protects the client, your firm and Equity & General. Your compliance team and any network will look for the same points.
Keep the record on the client file in your own system as well as in the partner portal. If your firm changes systems or leaves a network, the record stays with you.
Submit the introduction through the partner portal. Keep it short.
Do not attach the mortgage file, bank statements or payslips as a matter of routine. If the planner needs a figure, they ask the client, and the client decides what to share. That keeps the data you hold for the mortgage inside the purpose it was collected for.
Equity & General contacts the client to arrange a first conversation. The planner gathers the facts they need, which is a fact-find of their own, and decides whether advice can help. If it can, the client receives a recommendation in writing and decides whether to go ahead.
You can see the progress of each introduction in the partner portal. The client may decide not to proceed at any stage. That is their decision, and it does not affect the mortgage or your relationship with them.
If the client contacts you with a question about the advice, pass it to the planner. A short reply such as the one here keeps the line in the right place.
Wording you can use“That is a question for your planner at Equity & General, because it is part of the advice they are giving you. I will let them know you asked, so they can call you.”
The mortgage recommendation has to stand on its own. Never make it depend on the client agreeing to an introduction, and never delay a mortgage case while an introduction is pending.
Some cases bring the two together. A client may be deciding whether to use pension tax-free cash for a deposit, or whether to clear a mortgage with an inheritance. Where that happens, agree the order with the planner. The planner advises on the pension or the investment. You advise on the mortgage that follows from the client's decision. Record which decision came from which adviser.
If your firm places mortgages through Equity & General as well, the same separation applies. The mortgage advice and the financial planning advice are two pieces of advice, each with its own file.
A client who declines has made a decision about their own finances. Record it, and do not raise it again in the same meeting.
Situations change. A client who declined at completion may welcome the question when their fixed rate ends, when they inherit or when a child arrives. Add the question to the next review on the file. Ask once at each review, and stop if the client asks you to.
Each quarter, take a sample of introductions and check them against the record. Your network or compliance team may ask for the same sample.
Where something has slipped, put it right with the adviser concerned, and adjust the checklist so it does not recur.
Running the protection review you already give, and handing the pension, estate and business questions it raises to a planner.
Read it
Which past clients to contact first, what the data rules allow, how to word the message and what to record.
Read it
Running a lifetime mortgage or retirement interest-only case so the estate, pensions and family are considered before the lending is agreed.
Read itYour firm keeps the mortgage and protection advice. Equity & General gives the pension, investment and estate planning advice, and a named partnership manager sets the arrangement up with you.