You put your client list into your firm’s portal. Client Watch checks each limited company against its Companies House record and shows which clients have a reason for a conversation with a financial adviser, and why.
Where the company is the retirement plan, its value has to fund the years after the sale. The public record shows every director’s month of birth.
Trading age and the owner’s age point to a sale. Business asset disposal relief needs its conditions met for the two years before it (gov.uk, Business Asset Disposal Relief), so the planning has to start early.
The company has traded steadily for years and its headcount has grown, so more of the business rests on one person. The owner’s protection and planning were set when the company was small.
A new charge on the register means new borrowing. Where the lender took a personal guarantee, the owner’s family carries it unless it is insured.
The year-end meeting is when the numbers are in front of you and the client. It is the time to raise the personal side.
The accounts are overdue or the company status has changed. Both are on the public record and show that something in the business has changed.
Every limited company files information about its owner: directors’ ages, when the company started trading, charges registered against it, and whether the accounts were filed on time.
This is public information, the same record a lender checks. Client Watch reads it for the six things above.
Examples are a director past 55 in a company that is the retirement plan, a charge registered last month, or fourteen years of steady trading with one signatory on the account. Each is a reason to ask the client whether they would like a conversation with the financial adviser.
Each week the portal lists the clients with the strongest reason for a conversation: the name, the filing, why it matters, and approved wording. The example uses made-up companies.
A floating charge was registered in favour of a bank. If the lender took a personal guarantee, it falls on the owner’s family unless it is insured.
“I saw the new facility go on the record. Have you had anyone look at what happens to the guarantee if something happened to you?”
The sole director reaches 55 within twelve months, the first age at which pension benefits can normally be taken (rising to 57 on 6 April 2028, Finance Act 2022), and the company has traded profitably for fourteen years.
“You have a birthday coming that changes what you are allowed to do with the pension. Would you like half an hour with our financial adviser to go through it?”
Shareholders’ funds have risen for four consecutive years while the company employs three people. The retained profit is well beyond what the business needs to trade.
“Retained profit is up again. Would it help to have someone look at what to do with the surplus?”
Company names or numbers, exported from the software you use, into your firm’s portal.
Each limited company is matched to its public record and checked for the six things above.
Each entry shows the filing, why it matters and approved wording.
If they want a conversation, you record the introduction in the portal and Equity & General takes it from there.
Client email addresses and dates of birth are optional. With them, the portal can send each client the six questions and see when a director reaches 55.
Client Watch reads what a lender or a financial adviser would look up: charges, filing dates, trading age, company status, the directors and their ages. It reads the public record only.
The register shows the filing. You know the fees, the cash position and the client, so you decide which clients on the portal’s list to talk to.
Sole traders and partnerships file nothing at Companies House, so Client Watch covers your limited company clients. The six things apply to your other clients too, and you raise them in the same way.
Register your interest and we will set up your firm’s portal. Your firm needs no FCA permissions.