Financial planning firm unveils ‘game-changing’ platform to slash adviser admin time

An award-winning financial planner is preparing to launch a new digital platform designed to save IFAs and advice firms thousands of hours in administration every year.

Rob Lewis, founder of North Wales-based Celtic Financial Planning, has spent more than 18 months developing Fincate Pro, which aims to transform the way businesses prepare suitability reports and carry out annual client reviews.

The online venture has already attracted more than 20 registrations of interest from across the country.

Suitability reports – documents explaining why financial recommendations are appropriate for individual clients – can take anything from several hours to days to complete, creating costly bottlenecks for firms.

Rob says the new system can reduce that process to just 30 to 45 minutes.

“This has been a game changer for our own business,” said Rob.

“We’ve saved time and money, improved the way we work and made it easier to keep on top of compliance. Most importantly, it’s given us more human interaction with our clients and better client reporting.

“The last 18 months have involved working with technical specialists, testing the process, making thousands of tweaks and ironing out problems, because we know smaller firms simply don’t have the time or resources to do it themselves.

“We’re Chartered financial planners, not technology people trying to sell a product. This is what we do every day, and we know where the pressures are.”

Building on the foundations of Rob’s financial education platform Fincate, the new service uses guided digital tools, known as ‘wizards’, to take users through the preparation of reports and annual reviews.

These help gather information, check for missing details and produce documents tailored to each firm’s branding and requirements. The system also creates engaging one-page dashboards for clients, which Rob believes are better aligned with Consumer Duty outcomes.

The system is aimed particularly at small and medium-sized financial advice businesses and their paraplanners – the specialists who carry out much of the research, technical work and report writing.

Rob added: “Financial advice is a people business and always will be. We don’t want technology replacing that relationship or churning out pages of generic information.

“Fincate Pro is a hybrid solution. It does the heavy lifting, but the adviser remains in control of the advice and the final report.

“Client information doesn’t need to be sent to external AI language models, which is another important consideration for firms handling sensitive financial details.

“Some businesses are paying thousands of pounds to outsource this work. We believe there’s a more affordable way, particularly for firms with between one and ten users.”

Monthly subscriptions start at just £39, depending on the services required and the number of users, with a time-saving calculator available online.

Chester-based Obsidian Networks, led by Managing Director Peter Munnelly, has supported the development.

Peter said: “Rob and his team have invested a huge amount of time and resources into getting this right.

“What makes this different is that it’s been developed by people who understand the industry and know exactly what financial advisers need, rather than trying to make an existing system fit their way of working.

“We’ve enjoyed being involved in the technical side of the project, helping to ensure the platform is secure, reliable and easy to use.

“It’s an exciting development with plenty of potential.”

Fincate Pro is continuing to evolve, with further tools and features being explored.