Financial Needs Analysis & Risk Analysis Report (FAIS)
A Financial Needs Analysis (FNA) and Risk Analysis Report (RAR) are how a FAIS adviser proves the advice suited the client’s needs, objectives and risk profile. Here’s what they must cover, a template for the client risk profile, and how Broker AI drafts a client-ready report from the documents you upload.
Reviewed · Broker AI team
What a Financial Needs Analysis must establish
FAIS requires the adviser to obtain appropriate information about the client’s circumstances, analyse it, and recommend products suited to their needs and risk profile. A defensible analysis covers:
- 01The client’s financial position, dependants and existing cover.
- 02The client’s needs and objectives, prioritised.
- 03The client’s risk profile — tolerance, capacity and the risk required to meet the objective.
- 04The gap between existing cover and identified needs, and how the recommendation closes it.
Risk profiling: the three dimensions
A risk questionnaire should separate these so the recommendation is demonstrably suitable — the 2025 FAIS emphasis on a documented risk assessment makes keeping this evidence more important, not less.
Risk tolerance
The client’s willingness to accept risk — an attitude, captured through the questionnaire.
Risk capacity
The client’s ability to absorb a loss without derailing their objectives — a financial fact.
Risk required
The level of risk needed to achieve the stated goal — where tolerance, capacity and objective are reconciled.
Draft a Risk Analysis Report in minutes
Broker AI reads the client and policy documents you upload, structures the needs analysis and risk profile, and drafts a FAIS-aligned Risk Analysis Report you review and finalise — with the evidence trail an audit expects. POPIA-aware, built for South African brokers.
Frequently asked questions
- Is a Risk Analysis Report required under FAIS?
- A documented needs analysis and risk assessment underpin the record of advice FAIS requires. Without evidence that you analysed the client’s circumstances and risk profile, it is difficult to show the advice was appropriate.
- What is the difference between a RAR and a Record of Advice?
- The Risk Analysis Report / needs analysis establishes what the client needs and their risk profile; the Record of Advice documents the recommendation and why it meets those needs. They are complementary parts of the same advice file.
- Did FAIS change the risk-questionnaire requirement in 2025?
- The regulatory emphasis on a documented, defensible risk assessment has increased. The practical takeaway is the same: capture the client’s risk tolerance, capacity and required risk, and keep the evidence with the advice record.
This page is general information about FAIS needs analysis, not legal or compliance advice.