Award-winning Chartered financial planner Rob Lewis, founder of Celtic Financial Planning, has spent more than 18 months developing Fincate Pro, a subscription-based service aimed at transforming how financial advice firms prepare suitability reports and complete annual client reviews.
The business, which has offices in London, St Asaph and Mold, is targeting the UK's financial advice sector, particularly small and medium-sized firms looking to reduce operating costs, improve efficiency and meet growing regulatory demands.
The new platform has already attracted more than 20 registrations of interest from across the country ahead of its launch.
Suitability reports, which explain why financial recommendations are appropriate for individual clients, are among the most time-consuming elements of the advice process, often taking several hours or even days to complete.
Rob believes Fincate Pro can reduce that process to just 30 - 45 minutes, freeing up advisers and paraplanners to concentrate on client relationships, financial planning and business growth.
He states: "This has been a game changer for our own business. We've saved time and money, improved the way we work and made it easier to keep on top of compliance. Most importantly, it's given us more human interaction with our clients and better client reporting."
"Across the financial advice industry, firms are under pressure to deliver more for clients while managing rising costs, regulatory expectations and increasing administrative workloads.
"The last 18 months have involved working with technical specialists, testing the process, making thousands of tweaks and ironing out problems, because we know smaller firms simply don't have the time or resources to do it themselves.
"We're Chartered financial planners, not technology people trying to sell a product. This is what we do every day, and we know where the pressures are."
How the platform works
Building on Rob's existing financial education platform, Fincate, the new service uses guided digital tools, known as 'wizards', to take users through suitability reports and annual reviews.
The system helps collect information, identify missing details and produce documents tailored to each firm's branding and requirements.
It also generates concise, one-page client dashboards designed to make financial information easier to understand and support firms in demonstrating good outcomes under the Financial Conduct Authority's Consumer Duty.
The platform is aimed particularly at independent advice practices, wealth management businesses and paraplanners, with an emphasis on firms employing between one and ten users.
Rob added:
"Financial advice is a people business and always will be. We don't want technology replacing that relationship or churning out pages of generic information.
"Fincate Pro is a hybrid solution. It does the heavy lifting, but the adviser remains in control of the advice and the final report.
"Client information doesn't need to be sent to external AI language models, which is another important consideration for firms handling sensitive financial details.
"Some businesses are paying thousands of pounds to outsource this work. We believe there's a more affordable way, particularly for smaller firms looking to remain competitive without compromising the quality of their advice."
Price and development
Monthly subscriptions start at £39, depending on the services required and number of users, with an online calculator allowing firms to estimate potential time savings.
Technology specialist Obsidian Networks, led by Managing Director Peter Munnelly, has supported the development of the platform.
Peter said:
"Rob and his team have invested a huge amount of time and resources into getting this right.
"What makes this different is that it's been developed by people who understand the industry and know exactly what financial advisers need, rather than trying to make an existing system fit their way of working.
"We've enjoyed being involved in the technical side of the project, helping to ensure the platform is secure, reliable and easy to use.
"It's an exciting development with plenty of potential."
More information is available on the Fincate Pro website.
