Understanding Conflicts of Interest

The relationship between a client and a service provider is a two-way street. Both parties share responsibilities for ensuring disclosure and transparency in the relationship. A service provider is obligated to inform a client about conflicts, risks and alternatives, and the client is obligated to share relevant information and be a knowledgeable consumer. This questionnaire is intended to help wealth owners recognize where conflicts of interest may exist for different types of service providers and to help them surface those conflicts so that they are able to make fully informed decisions.

This tool is designed for private wealth owners to use when hiring or evaluating service providers. It is broken into two sections

• General conflict of interest due diligence questions that apply to all types of service providers.
• Examples of conflicts and questions that are unique to specific service providers.

This is one of the tools that came from a FOX Thought Leaders Roundtable and is part of the larger study, Forging Successful Partnerships in the Face of Conflicts of Interest. The larger study and a PDF of this tool are available at no cost to registered users.