UK advice firms can now demonstrate a clear, structured approach to understanding and evidencing client investment preferences, following the launch of the new Client Preference Ready badge by In ACCORD.
Elly Dowding and Lee Coates OBE, Directors of In ACCORD
The Client Preference Ready badge is a voluntary, firm-level standard that recognises advice firms which have embedded a consistent, neutral and well-documented approach to asking clients about their investment preferences and objectives.
It includes conventional investing, sustainability and values-based preferences, and evidencing how those preferences are considered within suitability.
Importantly, the badge is process-based rather than outcome-based. It does not assess fund selection, performance, sustainability or ethical positioning. Instead, it focuses on whether firms ask all clients about their preferences, record them consistently, and apply that understanding across the firm, not adviser by adviser.
For paraplanners and technical teams, the badge is designed to formalise good practice that already exists in many firms, without introducing new labels or ideologies.
Elly Dowding, Director at In ACCORD, said: “Paraplanners play a critical role in making sure firms truly know their client fully and can evidence that consistently in documentation and suitability.
“The Client Preference Ready badge recognises firms that have done the hard work of embedding that structure consistently, rather than relying on individual wording or informal processes.”
Lee Coates OBE, Director at In ACCORD, added: “This is about professional standards. Firms told us they wanted a way to show that preference conversations are handled properly, neutrally and consistently across advisers and paraplanners.
“The badge makes that invisible quality visible, without turning it into a tick-box exercise.”
Assessment is proportionate and tiered, with options including structured self-assessment, verified assessment and network-assured routes. Firms are not required to use any specific templates, and there is no cost to apply for or use the badge.
The Client Preference Ready badge is available to UK-regulated advice firms and is supported by In ACCORD’s Accord Initiative partners.
It is well worth looking at the adviser’s page for the assessment criteria although it is worth noting that the full assessment criteria and methodology (including FAQs) for the Client Preference Ready badge are publicly available here: Full assessment criteria and methodology (including FAQs)
For advice firms, below is the short consumer-facing explanation of the Client Preference Ready badge, which sets out clearly what the badge does and does not mean for clients:
