The regulator has written to businesses asking them to submit their reports as part of a sample, which are being reviewed.

The documents will have to be submitted next month.

Asked what action firms which are found to be failing to meet requirements might expect, the FCA told Financial Planning Today: “We will communicate back to the sector good and poor practice once we have completed the review.”

The FCA said this assessment is linked to its aim of ensuring ‘advice is of appropriate quality and suitable for consumers’ needs’.

This was one of the points it outlined in its recently published 2016-17 business plan.

Smaller firms will each have to hand over one suitability report for the FCA examine and larger companies will be asked to provide two.

This review is ongoing supervisory work and there is no end date, the FCA said.

The FCA’s official guidance to advisers on suitability reports was last updated in January.

The regulator informs advisers that the reports “should be clear, fair and not misleading”.

For each suitability report, the FCA stated, advisers should consider whether it:

• is tailored to your customer
• uses clear and plain language;
• explains the reasons for all recommendations and how they relate to the customer’s objectives
• highlights the risks associated with the recommendations
• explains the costs, charges and potential penalties attached to the recommendations
• provides a balanced view
• highlights if you have omitted any objectives
• highlights how the customer will be advantaged or disadvantaged by the advice and shows evidence of comparisons on a like-to-like basis where an existing plan has been cancelled and a new one devised.