The advice conversation, on the file
CallNote turns a client advice call into a structured file note in about two minutes, mapped to the best interests duty safe harbour: the objectives, the inquiries, the options considered, the reasoning. You review and lodge. It never records the call, so it works from the transcript your phone or meeting system already made.
The file note is the evidence you met the duty
The best interests duty is a duty about process, and the safe harbour in s961B(2) is a defence you have to prove. The Statement of Advice shows the client what you recommended. The file note shows your reasoning at the moment you formed it: what the client told you, what you inquired about, what options you weighed, and why the advice fits this client. When a review reaches your licensee or AFCA, that note is what stands behind you. It is also the part that gets rushed, written from memory, or skipped, because it is non-billable admin at the end of a full day. That is the gap CallNote closes.
How CallNote works for an advice practice
- Take the meeting like normal. On your phone system, Teams, Zoom, or a voice memo after an in-person review. Your system produces the transcript. CallNote never joins the call and never records audio.
- The note writes itself. CallNote turns the transcript into a structured file note in your format, capturing the elements that evidence the safe harbour: objectives and needs, inquiries made, options investigated, the reasoning, conflicts and disclosures, and the client’s decision.
- Review while it is fresh. A pop-up lets you check the note straight after the meeting, fix anything, and link it to the client.
- Lodge and lock. The note is timestamped, SHA-256 sealed and kept with an append-only audit log, so it is demonstrably contemporaneous and unaltered. That is exactly what makes a note stand up if the advice is ever reviewed.
Never records, which matters for advice
Most AI note-takers record the meeting or send a bot to sit in the call. For a practice handling a client’s full financial position, that is a problem in itself, and in the all-party consent states (New South Wales, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT) recording without everyone’s consent is a legal risk on its own. CallNote never records. It only ever receives the transcript your own system already produced, and turns it into the note. Your data is hosted in Australia and is never used to train AI models. Start with our guide to the best interests duty.
Guides for financial advisers
Plain-English guides to the best interests duty, the related obligations, and how to keep an advice file defensible.
Free tools
Your last review is already a file note.
Connect CallNote once and the note is waiting when the meeting ends: in your format, mapped to the safe harbour, sealed, and ready for the client file in about two minutes. Never records. Built in Australia.