Client agreements signed online for financial advisers

A new client can't be advised until the agreement is signed, and paper or emailed PDFs come back late. If you onboard 10 clients a month and each takes 30 minutes to send, chase and file, that's 300 minutes, 5 hours a month.

Legalesign is e-signature software for legal documents. You upload your terms of business and client agreement, send them to the client and see who has signed. The Team plan is £15 per user a month for 2 to 5 users. Your compliance officer approves the wording first; the software only handles signing.

A three-adviser firm in Harrogate takes on about 10 new clients a month, each signing a terms of business and a client agreement. The three advisers each have a Team seat.

About 3.3 hours a month saved (20 minutes x 10 clients = 200 minutes), worth around £83 if administrator time is worth £25 an hour. Cost is £45 a month for 3 Team users (3 x £15), excluding VAT, if each adviser sends their own agreements. If one administrator sends them all, one Solo Pro user at £25 a month, with fair use of 100 documents, is cheaper; confirm with Legalesign that one login suits your firm.

1. 1Have your compliance officer approve the terms of business and client agreement.
2. 2Create a Legalesign account and upload both as templates.
3. 3Send them to one new client and check the signed copies save to the client file.
4. 4Add 'signed agreement on file' to the checklist before fact-finding starts.
5. 5Check Legalesign's reminder settings before relying on them.

• The firm's compliance officer is responsible for the content of the terms and agreement, not the software.
• Legalesign's page is inconsistent on reminders and bulk sending for lower plans, so confirm before you rely on them.
• Team seats are per user, so adding an administrator adds £15 a month.
• Keep signed copies in your client file and check retention rules.