What challenging times these are! As an industry, we continue to navigate an increasingly complex regulatory environment, with regulators placing more scrutiny on what we are doing and how we are doing it — all with the overarching focus on client protection.

To that end, our core-critical mission is to help you meet those requirements and expectations through a streamlined and seamless experience. In this way, you can be fully compliant with all firm and regulatory requirements while directing your focus to your clients and providing them with premium service and attention.

How can we accomplish our mission?

We continue our efforts to offer you additional and improved support from our teams and tools. Our Compliance, Supervision and Legal Teams are focused on best practices and aligned on enhancing and implementing those best practices to meet (and exceed) regulators’ and our own expectations. This focus will enable you to run your practice and operate your business in a compliant, forward-looking manner.

We are also optimizing our teams — upgrading our depth and readiness through harmonized teams and processes — and are fully committed to drilling deep down into what we are doing and how we are doing it. We’re working with you to review and supervise your business with depth, direction and substance while continually focusing on formulating and implementing best practices.

What can you do, and what’s ahead?

Focus on maximizing the tools and data in Unio that are at your fingertips. Follow our processes and practice requirements to elevate your readiness and compliance. Forms and processes may seem burdensome — but rest assured, these documents and processes are designed to not only cover regulatory requirements but also to help you memorialize client communications and document the pertinent background information for what you have done for the client.

Gathering and maintaining complete data is critical — it is the foundation of the client relationship — and helps keep that relationship current and updated, often amid changing life circumstances, market conditions, and client objectives over time. Memorializing and documenting these events help enrich these important relationships and also help you be in full compliance and readiness.

Use our seamless technology and tools to memorialize and document, including obtaining and updating all client account information (from the New Account Opening process and thereafter with periodic check-ins and updates), client notes and communications and Unio texting. Memorialize and track additional details for investment recommendations and strategies. The core critical impact? Forming and maintaining the foundations of the relationship and meeting regulatory requirements and readiness.

Our focus and commitment in 2023

From the Compliance, Supervision and Legal perspective, we are also using automated tools to review, supervise and evaluate your business and sales practices and streamline our important compliance processes. We are focused on building efficiency in how we supervise — partnering with you to maximize what we can gather and document to minimize back-to-rep tasks.

We want to give you time back so you can focus on serving your clients, knowing that you have the safety and protection of the strong Compliance and Supervision teams behind you.

As part of our commitment to innovating and optimizing our offerings to you, our 2023 focus includes the following:

• Increased and improved training, tools, and how-tos through Compliance Alerts and Practice Pointers
• Alignment with and sharing of best practices to provide you guidance and resources to help optimize your client interactions and investment recommendations — with clarity on what you need and how to proceed (forms, requirements)
• Focus on making it easier for you to do business — not just with transaction and sales supervision but also with important functions such as advertising and marketing. We are committed to refining our processes and support of marketing and advertising reviews through AdTrax, to improve service levels, consistency and timeliness of reviews
• Creating many more innovative ideas and practices aimed at helping you run your practice

Our overall mission is to enable you to serve your clients knowing that we’ve got your back. Dedicated and equipped Compliance, Supervision and Legal teams are here to help you stay fully documented and in full compliance.