This was always important for business efficiency and transparency with a client, but it was now doubled down by state regulation.

These comments came in the latest in a series of webinars put on by the brokers' lobby group, Financial Advice NZ.

These webinars have been focussed on aspects of the day to day running of a mortgage business.

Speakers at the webinar included Rupert Gough, who recently sold his Mortgage Lab business to Maurice Trapp, and is now mortgage director at Financial Advice NZ.

Also there was Dean Logan, of Canterbury's Logan Smythe Associates and Hamish Patel of Mortgage Man.

The webinar heard that good record keeping was an essential part of the standard conditions of a FAP licence.

It had to cover all regulated financial advice given to clients, it had to be timely, it had to be safe, but also accessible, and it had to be available for inspection by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) at any time.

These records had to be kept for seven years and had to be catalogued for ease of use.

During the webinar, Logan spoke about how easy it is for advisers to omit some of these requirements without meaning to.

“We always have good intentions to upload our records to a CRM …. but the road to hell is paved with good intentions. We get busy, we move on to our next business and these requirements may get buried.”

Logan said avoiding such omissions was worthwhile - keeping accurate records of financial advice helped ensure transparency and win trust from clients.

“The first thing to do is to look at your current processes, are there any pain points, are there any problem areas?”

After these were identified, they should be worked on to avoid any repeats.

Hamish Patel told the webinar the sheer volume of things that had to be done was a problem – with new regulations in force or coming, there were many things for advisers to remember.

To make this easier, he recommended the use of a recording device such as an old fashioned dictaphone, or just speaking into the record function of a smartphone, immediately after a meeting with a client.

This would ensure that a record was of the things a client wanted before they could be forgotten about or overtaken by other events.

Patel compared this process to an airline pilot's checklist before taking off – it was a way of making sure that each aspect of a client's wishes was ticked off.

“After your meeting (with a client), do a recording, straight afterwards, and send an email to yourself to an assistant, straight away, so you have a date stamp and you have got the record right there.

“I always (make these recordings) with two milestones, the initial meeting with the client but also at the delivery point.

“I always do that after a meeting and I am always surprised at how much information I can put in there.   Sometimes I am tired after a meeting and I don't want to do it, but I do it because it sets my mind at ease for the next day.”

Rupert Gough focused on another aspect of record keeping – the need to take notes during a fact finding encounter with a client.

This could be done with a laptop or a digital writing device. It did not matter what method was used as long as the information ended up as high quality searchable, retrievable notes, in what he called “one source of truth” such as a CRM.

He also stressed the need for back up systems in case of a cyber attack such as ransomware to make sure vital records were retained for later use or for inspection. Gough also recommended simple things to aid record keeping such as improving typing skills or using dictation technology.