Account Maintenance

Core Concepts

Contact Information Changes

Address and contact updates are among the most frequent account maintenance requests, but they carry meaningful fraud and elder abuse risk. Firms must balance client convenience with protective controls.

Address change procedures:

• Client-initiated changes may be submitted through the advisor, client portal, phone, or written request. Regardless of channel, the firm must verify the identity of the requesting party before processing the change. Common verification methods include knowledge-based authentication, callback to the phone number on file, or confirmation sent to the prior address or email.
• Advisor-initiated changes on behalf of a client should require documented client authorization. Verbal authorization must be noted with date, time, and the identity of the person providing authorization. Written or electronic authorization is preferred and creates a stronger audit trail.
• Multi-system propagation is a persistent operational challenge. When an address changes, the update must flow to all systems that store client contact data: CRM, custodian account master, correspondence system, billing system, and any third-party platforms. Failure to propagate consistently results in mail going to old addresses (privacy risk), incorrect tax form delivery (1099s, K-1s), and compliance exposure. Best practice is to designate a single system of record (typically CRM or custodian) and propagate changes outward via integration, rather than requiring manual updates in each system.
• Temporary vs permanent changes should be distinguished in the workflow. A client who is traveling or has a seasonal residence may need mail temporarily redirected without changing the legal address of record. The system should support a temporary address with an expiration date that reverts to the permanent address automatically.