Acre today announces a new partnership with Comentis, the award-winning Duty of Care assessment provider, which sees Acre integrating Comentis’ leading financial vulnerability assessments directly into the platform. This gives brokers a seamless, compliant process to assess clients for vulnerable circumstances and act on any flags within Acre’s Client Portal and CRM, helping them deliver better outcomes for vulnerable customers and meet FCA regulatory commitments.
Comentis combines its award-winning technology with the clinical expertise of leading mental health and psychology specialists to deliver unique digital vulnerability assessments that enable advisers to identify vulnerable clients consistently and objectively. The assessments also provide advisers with clear guidance on appropriate next steps, helping them deliver better client outcomes.
Sitting within Acre, Comentis assessments are automatically triggered early in the client journey to ensure all information is gathered and assessed in a consistent manner before cases can progress further, creating an FCA-compliant audit trail for brokerages and networks.
With Comentis now fully embedded into Acre’s workflows, several networks and brokerages are already adopting the new vulnerability assessments.
Reuben Thompson, VP of Innovation at Acre, said: “Under FCA rules, brokers must assess vulnerability. In reality that means firms must have in place a clear, effective process that holds up under regulatory scrutiny. Comentis’ clinically validated vulnerability assessments are the industry gold standard and integrating their process into Acre’s Client Portal means our users will never miss this vital step when dealing with clients.”
Jonathan Barrett, CEO at Comentis, added: "As the mortgage sector continues to strengthen its approach to Consumer Duty, firms are recognising the importance of having robust, consistent and evidence-based processes for identifying and supporting vulnerable customers. We're delighted to be partnering with Acre, whose market-leading platform has enabled vulnerability identification to be embedded seamlessly into the adviser journey, making it easier for advisers to do the right thing for every client."
"This partnership ensures that advisers can access clinically validated vulnerability assessments without disrupting the advice process. With assessments specifically designed for the mortgage and later life markets, firms can identify customer needs objectively, receive clear guidance on appropriate next steps, and evidence the actions they've taken to deliver good customer outcomes."
