When a complaint lands, the file is your only defence.
A suitability report proves what you meant to say. Forthold keeps what you actually said, sealed at the time, so the evidence exists when a client remembers it differently years later.
Coming next. Forthold for professionals is being built now, with a small group of firms. What follows describes how it will work.
of suitability complaints about advisers were upheld in 2023/24.
Oxford Risk analysis of FOS dataof new complaints about advisers concerned suitability or mis-selling.
Oxford Risk analysis of FOS datais how far back the FCA's ongoing advice review asks firms to evidence that reviews took place.
FCA ongoing advice services reviewHow it goes wrong today
Complaints about advice more than fifteen years old are still being decided. By then the only evidence is a document written after the meeting.
- The meeting
Advice is given out loud
Risk, options and the recommendation are discussed in conversation.
- Afterwards
The report is written up
A paraplanner or the adviser reconstructs the meeting from notes and memory.
- Years later
The client remembers it differently
The Ombudsman decides on the file. The file is the report, not the conversation.
What Forthold gives your firm
The record behind the report
A sealed record of the advice conversation, made at the time: the evidence your suitability report was derived from.
Proof of understanding
Consumer Duty asks you to evidence that clients understood. The conversation where they did is the evidence.
Reviews you can prove
Every ongoing review recorded and sealed, so the question of whether it happened has an answer.
It works with what you already use
We are building integrations with the practice management platforms advice firms already run, so Forthold sits inside a system you already use.
If you already use an AI note-taker, keep it. It writes the note. Forthold keeps the record the note came from, which is the part that holds up in a dispute.
Your numbers
The bigger value is a complaint you can defend, which this does not try to model. This shows only the write-up time your firm could get back. Change any figure.
Illustrative only. The figures are your inputs, not our claims about time saved.
Questions compliance will ask
Do clients have to agree to being recorded?
Yes. Every client will be asked before anything is recorded. If they decline, nothing will be recorded, and a sealed note will keep proof that you asked.
Can Forthold read our client conversations?
Not on any plan: our contract forbids it. EnclaveA tier we plan to offer later. Your record will be opened only inside verified hardware, so even we will not be able to read it., coming later, will make it impossible.
Does this replace our suitability report?
No. Your report remains the considered document. Forthold keeps the contemporaneous record it was based on.
How long are records kept?
Each adviser will hold their own sealed records for as long as their obligations require. Firm-level administration and retention will follow.
Ten firms. Founding rates.
We are looking for a small group of advice firms to shape Forthold before it reaches professionals. Design partners keep founding rates. To talk about it, write to us at hello@forthold.com.