The ifatools.ai blog
Insights on AI for financial advisers
News, guides and practical thinking on AI in UK financial advice, from the team building ifatools.ai.
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ChatGPT for financial advisers: direct use or purpose-built apps
Many advisers already use ChatGPT or Claude directly. What a general chat assistant does well in advice work, where a purpose-built app helps, what the plans cost and the data checks to make first.
Suitability report requirements: COBS 9 and 9A in plain English
The suitability report requirements in COBS 9.4.7R and COBS 9A.3.3R explained clearly, with a practical structure for writing reports that meet the rules and that clients will actually read.
The cost of admin in a financial planning firm: a worked calculation
Admin rarely shows up as a line in the accounts, but it has a real cost. A worked calculation of hours times charge-out rate, using our time estimates, and a simple method for measuring your own firm.
You record every client meeting. Who reviews them?
Firms record and transcribe meetings, then the transcripts sit in a folder unread. Asclto reviews every meeting in minutes and turns it into a coaching plan a supervisor can use on Monday.
FSCS limit £120,000: what advisers should check for client cash
The FSCS limit rose to £120,000 on 1 December 2025. What it covers, how shared banking licences and temporary high balances work, and a practical checklist for advisers placing client cash.
AI for financial advisers in the UK: a plain guide for 2026
What AI does well and badly in advice work today, what the FCA and the ICO expect, where client data goes, and how a UK advice firm can start using it safely, in plain language.
The FCA ongoing advice review: findings and what to check now
What the FCA's review of ongoing advice services found, the figures behind it, the rules that apply to ongoing charges and reviews, and a practical checklist for testing your own service.
From meeting to paperwork: how to stop putting off the client documents
Discovery notes, scopes of work and value summaries are the documents advisers put off, because writing them well takes time. Carbon turns the recorded conversation into the paperwork, ready to check and send.
Compliance file review checklist: what a sound advice file contains
A practical compliance file review checklist for UK advice firms, built on COBS 9, COBS 9A, COBS 6.1A and the record-keeping rules, with what to look for in each part of the file and how to record findings.See it before you decide.
Six apps that take file checks, annual reviews, client documents and meeting coaching off the desk, from £49 per adviser per month. See them run live on a demo firm in a twenty-minute call, with nothing to prepare.