Custom suitability assessment and investment file software
Anyone who gives investment advice or manages assets must, under MiFID II, assess in advance whether a service or product is suitable for the client: knowledge and experience, financial situation, objectives and risk tolerance, and sustainability preferences. That assessment belongs in a file that is accurate for every piece of advice and every review. Appfront builds software that records the client profile, substantiates suitability per advice, and keeps the file up to date.
What is software for the suitability assessment and the investment file?
Under MiFID II, an investment firm that gives advice or manages assets must first know who the client is. It asks about knowledge of and experience with investing, the financial situation including the ability to bear losses, the objectives and investment horizon, risk tolerance, and sustainability preferences. On that basis it determines which services and products are suitable, and for advice the client receives a suitability statement.
At many firms, this sits in separate forms, a CRM note and a PDF created at the first meeting. Whoever gives advice cannot quickly see what the profile is based on or whether it is still up to date. And when a client changes jobs or retires, the profile is not always recalibrated, even though the investments should follow.
We build custom software because firms differ in services, questionnaires, model portfolios and systems. The software records the profile together with the answers and the rationale, tests advice and management against it, and tracks when a reassessment is needed. We define the requirements that apply to your firm and what your policy looks like together with your compliance department.
Profile recorded
Answers and rationale in one place.
Suitability per advice
Tested against the profile, with an explanation.
Up-to-date file
Reassessment on time, changes traceable.
How we build your software for the suitability assessment and the investment file
We start with your current file: which questionnaire you use, how a profile is determined, what the suitability statement looks like, and how often reassessment takes place. Then, together with compliance, we define which rules apply: which profile fits which portfolio, when a product is not suitable, and which events call for a reassessment. We often start with the client profile and its recording, because everything else builds on that. The testing per advice, the statement and the integration with your CRM and portfolio system follow after that. Afterwards, we keep the software up to date as rules or your policy change.
Questionnaire, profile and statement.
With compliance, per service.
Profile, testing and reassessment.
Go-live, integrations and maintenance.
What software for the suitability assessment and the investment file actually does
The components below appear in almost every piece of suitability assessment software. Which ones you need depends on your services.
Questionnaire
Knowledge, situation, goals.
Client profile
With rationale.
Compliance check
Advice against profile.
Declaration
With every advice.
Reassessment
On time and on change.
Audit trail
Every change traceable.
Who we build software for the suitability assessment and the investment file for
The software is intended for firms that give investment advice or manage assets. The more clients and advisers, the more it delivers.
Wealth managers
Many portfolios. Profile per mandate matters.
Investment advisers
Advice per transaction. The statement matters.
Private banks
Many advisers. Consistency is key.
Financial planners
Investing within the plan. Reassessment matters.
Test your idea first: a working prototype in 1 day
With OneDayBuild, we make your idea tangible in a single day for €1,150, so you know whether further development is worth the investment. Decide to go ahead with the full build? Then we deduct the cost in full.
View OneDayBuild →Technology and integrations
This page is about the client profile and suitability. For monitoring portfolios against the mandate, see our page on mandate monitoring, for reporting to clients our page on portfolio reporting, and for automation with AI our page on AI in asset management. You can read about our approach on building software.
Why Appfront for your software for the suitability assessment and the investment file?
A profile in a separate PDF, and a reassessment that nobody monitors, make advice hard to justify in the event of a complaint or a question from the regulator. That is what we build on: a profile with rationale, suitability per advice, and a file that stays up to date.
Substantiated
Every profile explainable.
Per advice
Suitability tested.
Up to date
Reassessment monitored.
Security and privacy in software for the suitability assessment and the investment file
The software processes sensitive client data: their assets, income, goals and investments. Access is set up per role and per client, changes to a profile are recorded with who made them and why, and data is used only for advice and management.
The software runs in a European data centre, with encrypted storage and daily backups. We record the processing in a data processing agreement and align retention periods with your compliance department.
Frequently asked questions about software for the suitability assessment and the investment file
Questions that asset managers and advisers ask before they get started.
The assessment that an investment firm carries out under MiFID II before it gives advice or manages assets. It gathers information about the client's knowledge and experience, financial situation, objectives and risk tolerance, and sustainability preferences, and uses this to determine which services and products are suitable.
The suitability assessment is about the client profile and whether a piece of advice or a mandate fits it. Mandate monitoring is about checking a portfolio every day against the terms of the mandate. The two go together, and we have a separate page on mandate monitoring.
Yes. The software uses your questionnaire and your rules to arrive at a profile. If your questionnaire changes, a record is kept of which version a client completed, so an earlier profile can always be explained.
A piece of advice or a change to a portfolio is checked against the profile. If it does not fit, for example because the risk is too high or the client lacks knowledge of a product, the software flags it and the adviser has to justify or amend it. The outcome goes into the suitability report.
You set that out in your policy: periodically, and on events such as a change of job, retirement, an inheritance or a large withdrawal. The software monitors those moments and prepares a review for the adviser.
If you want them to. The client can complete the questionnaire online, after which the adviser discusses and confirms the answers. That keeps the conversation in place, and the file is complete before the advice is given.
Yes, that is usually the idea. Client data comes from the CRM, and portfolios and transactions from the portfolio system, so nobody has to maintain them twice. We look at which integrations are needed in the first step.
An investment file that is right with every piece of advice?
Tell us how you currently record profiles, how advice is assessed, and how often you review. We will show you what the software looks like.