Phone Solutions for Financial Advisers & IFAs
"YOU NEVER
EXPLAINED THE RISK."
Advice happens on the phone - risk discussed, objectives clarified, a recommendation talked through - and years later a suitability complaint can turn on what was actually said in that call. Usually all that survives is a file note written up afterwards. If it was written up.
ONSIM puts recorded numbers on every adviser's mobile, natively ON-A-SIM - your firm's landline, each adviser's existing mobile number ported in, or both side by side. Every call on those numbers is captured with optional network-level recording and transcription behind it, a complete log of every call answered or not, and one dashboard managing the lot.
Enterprise compliance recorders are built for banks. ONSIM is built for the firm with one, three or ten advisers - self-serve, no procurement cycle, no minimum seat count.
The client file should include the phone calls
Tailored Phone Solutions for Advice Firms
Key Features Built for Advice Firms:
A firm phone system that lives on the mobiles your advisers already carry. No apps, no VoIP dependency - the firm's number on every call, a record of every conversation if you want one, and evidence that stands up when a complaint lands.
The Firm Number on Every Adviser Mobile
Advisers make and receive calls on their own handsets with the firm's landline number as caller ID - from home, between client visits or in the office. Clients see one professional identity, and advisers' personal mobiles stay private. See the Landline SIM.
Recording That Cannot Be Forgotten
On-network call recording (an optional paid add-on) captures client calls at network level - no apps, nothing to press, nothing an adviser can forget in a busy review season. When a client says the risk was never explained, the recording is a contemporaneous record of the conversation.
Transcripts That Become File Notes
AI Insights (optional, opt-in add-on) transcribes recorded calls and makes them searchable - a draft file note for every client call, ready to attach to the client record in your back-office system via our API.
Consumer Duty Outcome Evidence
The Consumer Duty asks firms to evidence customer understanding and good outcomes, not just to follow a process. A recording of what the client was told - and what they said back - is about as direct as that evidence gets.
Call Logs Including Attempted Calls
Real-time logs show every call with number, timestamp and duration - including attempted calls that rang unanswered. Three tries to reach a client before a review deadline are client contact you can evidence; on most networks they vanish without trace.
Priced for One-Adviser Firms
Most SMB recording customers pay £20/user/month + VAT all-in - SIM, UK minutes and SMS, recording, archival and search included. No enterprise procurement, no per-seat minimums. See business call recording for the full breakdown.
"You may not have to record. Here is why small firms that do sleep better."
Let's be straight about the rules. Many advice firms operate under the Article 3 MiFID exemption, so the FCA's taping rule (SYSC 10A) often does not apply to them in the way it applies to investment firms - and even where it reaches Article 3 firms serving retail clients, the Handbook allows a contemporaneous written note in place of a recording. Nobody should sell you recording by telling you it is mandatory. It usually isn't. Our free call recording requirement checker walks through where the taping rule does and does not bite.
What does apply is everything else: SYSC 9 record-keeping, the COBS 9 duty to evidence why a recommendation was suitable, and a Consumer Duty that expects firms to demonstrate customer understanding and good outcomes. Senior FCA staff have publicly encouraged firms to record customer interactions as a way of evidencing understanding. When a suitability complaint arrives - often years after the advice - the firm with a recording has the conversation itself; the firm without one has a file note and a memory. Complaint handlers consistently give more weight to the former.
The economics have always been the problem. Enterprise compliance recorders are designed and priced for banks; a one-adviser or three-adviser firm was never going to buy one. ONSIM records at network level on a SIM - nothing installed, nothing to remember - with most SMB customers paying £20/user/month + VAT all-in for SIM, UK minutes and SMS, recording, secure archival and search. Recordings are encrypted and stored in highly secure data centres, and the same infrastructure serves FCA-regulated firms with full taping obligations. Add AI Insights (optional, opt-in) and every recorded call has a searchable transcript - a file note that wrote itself, ready for your back-office system via our API.
None of this is legal, regulatory or financial advice, and no phone system makes a firm compliant by itself - whether and how you record, notify and retain is for your compliance function and your own advisers. What ONSIM provides is the record: what was said, when you called, and how long it took. Our free retention calculator and the rest of our compliance tools are a starting point for that review, not a substitute for it.
What our customers say.
" One of the best services I have ever received! "
Mubasher
Small business owner
" Amazing company the service is second to none! Support staff are great and have helped me so much. Really polite and helpful. "
Smith & Sullivan Ltd
Small business owner
" My name is John Morrison I have two businesses and the staff at ONSIM were brilliant.....instant replies and very polite couldn't ask for more from them. Thanks for everything "
John Morrison
Small business owner
Still have doubts?
Can you record the mobile numbers our advisers already use?
Yes. You can port the mobile numbers your team already uses to ONSIM - the same process as switching mobile networks. Clients keep dialling the same number, staff keep the same native handset experience, and every call and SMS on that ported number is then recorded at network level and managed in the same dashboard as the rest of the firm. Ported mobiles and landline identities sit side by side on the same system, so you can run both.
Do IFAs and financial advisers have to record client calls?
Often not - and we won't pretend otherwise. Many advice firms are Article 3 MiFID-exempt, so the FCA taping rule (SYSC 10A) frequently does not apply directly, and where it reaches retail Article 3 firms a contemporaneous written note can stand in for a recording. But SYSC 9 record-keeping, COBS 9 suitability evidencing and the Consumer Duty all still require you to show your workings. Try our call recording requirement checker, and confirm your own position with your compliance adviser - this is not legal or regulatory advice.
Can advisers call clients from their mobiles showing the firm's number?
Yes. With a Landline SIM, the firm's landline number is native on the SIM in each adviser's phone - outbound calls display the firm's number and inbound calls to it ring the mobile directly. No app, no VoIP, no divert: it works like a normal mobile call because it is one. Personal numbers stay private.
How does call recording work - can an adviser forget to switch it on?
Recording happens on the network, not the handset, so there is nothing to install and nothing to press - if recording is enabled for a user, their calls on the firm number are captured automatically. It is an optional paid add-on and is off by default. See business call recording for how network-level recording compares with apps.
What does call recording cost for a small advice firm?
Most SMB customers pay £20/user/month + VAT - a complete solution covering the SIM or eSIM, UK minutes and SMS, the recording, secure archival, and search & replay via the ONSIM dashboard. Nothing separately licensed. That is a different universe from enterprise compliance recorders priced for banks. Full details on the business call recording page.
How does call recording help with the Consumer Duty?
The Duty expects firms to evidence customer understanding and good outcomes. Senior FCA staff have publicly encouraged firms to record customer interactions as a practical way to do that: a recording shows what the client was told, how it was explained and what they said back. It is evidence, not a compliance framework - your Duty implementation remains your own.
Can transcripts feed our back-office or CRM system?
Yes. AI Insights (an optional, opt-in paid add-on) transcribes recorded calls and makes them searchable - effectively a draft file note per call. Recordings, transcripts and call logs are available over our API so they can land against the client record in your back-office system.
How long should an advice firm keep call recordings?
It depends on your permissions and the business written - five years is the common FCA baseline where taping applies, pension transfer files are often kept indefinitely, and UK GDPR requires a defined retention period either way. Our free call recording retention calculator works through the common UK regimes with cited references. Treat it as a starting point for your compliance review, not a substitute for it.
Do we need to tell clients their calls are recorded?
If you enable recording you are responsible for using it lawfully. In practice UK firms typically notify - a line in the client agreement or terms of business, or an announcement on inbound calls. How you meet your obligations is one for your compliance function; recording on ONSIM is opt-in and off by default.
We are a one-adviser firm - is network-level recording overkill?
It was built for you. The enterprise recorders that banks use assume compliance teams, procurement cycles and hundreds of seats; a directly authorised one-adviser firm gets the same "you never explained the risk" complaint with none of that infrastructure. ONSIM is self-serve, works from a single user, and one recording that resolves one complaint pays for years of it.
Can call logs evidence client contact attempts?
Yes - and this is genuinely unusual. ONSIM logs every call in real time, including attempted calls that rang unanswered, which most mobile networks never record at all. Chasing a client ahead of an annual review or a time-sensitive recommendation is client contact you can point to. Logs are in your dashboard and over the API. Read why other networks don't log attempted calls.
Flexible pricing plans
Landline SIM
The firm number on every adviser mobile
- UNLIMITED UK Calls & SMS**
- Inbound & outbound calls show your landline number
- Standard or eSIM
- Advanced Features
- UK Data Bundles (2GB,4GB,10GB,20GB,40GB @ £2,£4,£6,£8,£10)
- Pick new landline or use existing
- Cancel any time
- Trusted by 7,500+ UK businesses
Call & SMS Recording
What most SMB recording customers pay - all-in
- SIM or eSIM per user
- UK minutes and SMS
- Inbound & outbound call recording at network level
- SMS recording (both directions)
- Secure archival, retained per your policy
- Search & replay via the ONSIM dashboard
- Number porting included
- UK-based support
Want to speak to our sales team? Call us now on +443338804008
All prices shown are ex VAT**UK Mins are outbound calls to major (O2, Vodafone, EE and Three) UK mobiles (07), landlines (starting 01, 02, 03) and freephone numbers (0800, 0808). Unlimited call and SMS allowances are subject to our fair usage policy (5,000 mins and 1,000 SMS). Usage outside of these allowances are charged at 5p/min & 5p/sms. By default we only allow calling to inclusive numbers (excluding non-standard 07 numbers) to avoid incurring additional charges. You can request that these restrictions are removed at our sole discretion.