Annual review meeting agenda: a template and preparation checklist

Annual review meetings are often prepared around the portfolio. The valuation is printed, the performance figures are ready, and the questions that matter most, such as whether the client's health, family, work or plans have changed, get squeezed into the last ten minutes.

A clear annual review meeting agenda, sent in advance and backed by proper preparation, changes the shape of the conversation. This guide sets out a preparation checklist, a sample agenda with suggested timings, the questions worth asking and what to record afterwards.

Why the annual review meeting agenda matters

The review meeting is where the ongoing service becomes visible to the client. Where adviser charges are paid over time for an ongoing service, COBS 6.1A.22R requires it to be "an ongoing service for the provision of personal recommendations or related services" (COBS 6.1A). Where the firm provides a periodic suitability assessment, COBS 9A.3.9R says "A firm providing a periodic suitability assessment must review the suitability of the recommendations given at least annually" (COBS 9A.3).

The Consumer Duty adds a communication angle. PRIN 2A.5.5R asks firms to "communicate in good time for retail customers to make effective decisions, including: (1) before the purchase of a product; and (2) at suitable points throughout the lifecycle of the product." (PRIN 2A.5). An agenda the client sees before the meeting gives them time to think about what has changed and what they want to ask.

The FCA's CP26/10 proposes "Replacing the annual suitability review with periodic reviews based on clients' needs". That is a proposal and the policy statement has not been published. However often reviews end up happening, each one still needs a structure.

Preparation checklist: before the meeting

Work through this list a week or two before the date, so there is time to chase anything missing.

The figures

• Current and previous valuation statements for every plan and wrapper, with the dates they cover.
• Money paid in and taken out during the period, shown separately from investment return.
• Charges for the period in pounds, by layer: adviser, platform and fund.
• Any income the client has drawn, and the level it is being drawn at now.

The client file

• The last fact find, and the date the client last confirmed it.
• The current attitude to risk and capacity for loss assessments, and when they were made.
• The objectives recorded last time, and progress against each.
• Any characteristics of vulnerability noted, and any adjustments agreed.
• Actions agreed at the last review, and whether each was completed.

The service record

• Contact during the year: meetings, calls, emails and any work done outside the review.
• Any complaints, queries or changes of instruction.
• Anything the firm said it would do and has not yet done.

The last item is uncomfortable but important. It is better raised by the adviser than by the client.

Sending the agenda to the client

Send a one-page agenda with the meeting confirmation. A short covering note might ask:

• Has anything changed in your health, family, work or home since we last met?
• Are you planning any large spending, gifts or changes in the next few years?
• Is there anything you would like to discuss that is not on this list?
• Would you like anyone else to join the meeting, or would a different format suit you better?

That last question matters for some clients. The FCA's guidance on vulnerable customers notes that "firms that advise on investments and pensions have an older customer base, so common characteristics of vulnerability may involve health and life events associated with old age" (FG21/1). Offering to include a family member, or to meet in person rather than on video, is an easy and practical adjustment.

A sample annual review meeting agenda

This agenda assumes a meeting of around an hour. The timings are an illustration, not a rule: adjust them to the client and to how much has changed.

Why the client's life comes before the portfolio

A recommendation can only be reviewed against up-to-date information, and the client's answers often change how the numbers should be read. A fall in value means something different to a client who now plans to retire next year.

Presenting the investment figures

Show the change in value broken into money paid in, money taken out and investment return, then the charges in pounds. Our guide to explaining charges to clients sets out a simple layout.

Reassessing risk

Do not simply carry forward last year's risk profile. Ask whether the client's feelings about risk, or their ability to absorb a fall, have changed, and record the answer either way.

Questions worth asking in the meeting

• "What would you like to get out of today?"
• "Looking back over the year, what has gone well for you, and what has worried you?"
• "If your investments fell sharply next year, how would that affect your plans?"
• "Is there anything about your plans, or our service, you would like to change?"
• "Is there anything I have said today that you would like me to go over again?"

The last question has a regulatory basis. In one-to-one interactions, PRIN 2A.5.9R requires firms, where appropriate, to "ask the retail customer whether they understand the information and if they have any further questions" (PRIN 2A.5). Asking it, and noting the answer, is simple evidence towards the consumer understanding outcome.

After the meeting: record and follow through

Within a few days of the meeting:

1. Update the fact find, noting what changed and what the client confirmed as unchanged.
2. Record the reassessed attitude to risk and capacity for loss.
3. Write up the review, including whether the recommendations remain suitable and any changes recommended.
4. Send the client a short summary of what was agreed and who is doing what.
5. Diary every action, and the next review.

SYSC 9.1.1R requires a firm to "arrange for orderly records to be kept of its business and internal organisation… sufficient to enable the FCA to monitor the firm's compliance" (SYSC 9.1). The FCA's ongoing advice review also listed as good practice "Appropriate record-keeping to make sure firms can evidence delivery of their services where provided" (FCA ongoing advice review).

When the client does not attend

Record every attempt to arrange the review. Where clients decline over several years, the FCA says firms should discuss "whether continuing with the service is still in their best interest" (same source). If reviews have slipped across the book, our guide to clearing an annual review backlog sets out a catch-up plan.

Preparing the figures faster

By our estimate, writing one annual review by hand takes about three hours, much of it pulling numbers from platform valuations. Strata reads the valuation PDFs the firm already has, separates investment return from money paid in, tracks charges year on year and writes the review as a branded, editable draft with a headline, what has gone well, what has changed and a timeline. Every figure is traced to the report and page it came from, and sections that need the adviser's judgement are clearly flagged. By our estimate it takes about twenty minutes, which leaves the adviser preparing for the conversation rather than the spreadsheet.

Frequently asked questions

What should an annual review meeting agenda include?

A welcome and the client's priorities, changes in circumstances, progress against objectives, the investment figures including charges, a reassessment of risk and capacity for loss, recommendations, and agreed actions with owners and dates.

Should the agenda be sent to the client before the meeting?

In our view, yes. It gives the client time to think about what has changed and what to ask, and it fits the Consumer Duty expectation in PRIN 2A.5.5R to communicate in good time for clients to make effective decisions.

How long should an annual review meeting take?

There is no set length. Around an hour suits many clients; complex affairs or major changes may need longer.

See how Strata prepares the review document from platform valuations, or book a twenty-minute demo on Microsoft Teams with Adam Booth, run live on a demo firm with its own clients and files. There is nothing to prepare.