Industry news and views from Panacea and our partners.
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Fidelity Adviser Solutions: Helping clients with their financial wellness
If youve ever felt that clients money worries run deeper than the numbers, this five part video series from Fidelity Adviser Solutions is for you. Each short session shares practical, real-world ideas you can use straight away to spark better conversations, boost confidence, and make planning feel clearer and more human for you and your clients. Watch now
Client Centred Advisers: 94% of clients say trust matters most. So why dont advisers study it?
According to Vanguard research, 94% of clients say trust in their adviser is critical to their overall satisfaction.
Client Centred Advisers: Helping clients stop living in lifes waiting room
One of the most common assumptions people make is this: Ill be happy when Ill be happy when I can retire. Ill be happy when the mortgage is paid off. Ill be happy when I have enough money. Ill be happy when I can work less. Ill be happy when Ive achieved financial freedom. At first glance, these seem like perfectly reasonable goals. In fact, many of them are exactly the kinds of goals financial planners help clients work towards every day.
Client Centred Advisers: Why money is never just about money
Perhaps one of the most important things to understand about money is that people dont experience it rationally. They experience it psychologically.
Paul Harper Search: The Private Equity Issue Friend or Foe?
Over the past few years, we have seen a significant influx of private equity into the financial advice sector, particularly in the period following the pandemic. It was clear to anyone observing the market during COVID that financial adviser firms performed relatively well. The primary reason was their ongoing revenue model, with clients typically paying a percentage-based fee deducted directly from invested funds. As markets rise over time, this revenue tends to grow.
Paul Harper Search: If You Want the Right Job, Always Tell the Truth
If you want to secure the right job, the most important thing you can do is tell your recruiter the truth. I recently saw an article stating that one in four clients ignore the recommendations of their financial adviser. When you look closer at the detail, a third of those clients admitted the advice wasnt right for them because they had withheld important information from their adviser. I see exactly the same issue in recruitment.
Paul Harper Search: Shaping Your Brand A Guide to Effective Personal Branding
Gary Vaynerchuk, the highly regarded entrepreneur, author, speaker, and marketing guru once said: "Your personal brand is your reputation and your reputation in perpetuity is the foundation of your career." In this article, I will share some insights on how financial professionals can harness personal branding to gain more traction in the market. Whether you are looking to attract new clients, build industry authority, or secure your next big career move.
YouGov/Cebr consumer confidence index records largest monthly increase since 2021
The latest YouGov/Cebr Consumer Confidence Index shows a marked rebound in sentiment, with the biggest monthly increase since 2021 driven by improving perceptions of household finances and greater optimism around property values. While challenges remain, particularly around business activity and job security, the data suggests consumers may be feeling more resilient after a difficult start to the year. For financial advisers, understanding shifts in confidence can provide valuable context for client conversations around spending, saving, investing and retirement planning. Discover the latest findings and what they could mean for your clients.
5 Themes Shaping This Weeks Trade Press Headlines
Every week, the specialist financial press highlights the issues shaping adviser businesses. Looking across Money Marketing, FT Adviser, Professional Adviser and Citywire, these are the five themes that have consistently dominated discussion over the past seven days. From regulation and AI to business strategy and investment trends, heres whats been driving the conversation, and why it matters for advisers.
How to Stand Out on LinkedIn and Attract New Career Opportunities
Friday, 10th July, 1:30pm BST (Live session)
YouGov: Are Consumers Getting Better Outcomes as a Result of the Consumer Duty?
Nearly three years after the introduction of Consumer Duty, are firms delivering the improved outcomes the FCA intended? Drawing on insights from more than 65,000 UK consumer interviews, this on-demand webinar from YouGov explores how perceptions of financial services have evolved since implementation. Discover which sectors and brands are leading the way, where gaps remain, and how different customer groups, including vulnerable consumers and younger generations, view their experiences today. Gain valuable insight into the latest Consumer Duty trends and what they could mean for firms looking to strengthen customer outcomes.
Beyond the Hype: The Four Pillars of AI Assistance for Financial Advisers
Artificial intelligence has quickly become one of the biggest talking points in financial services. But once you look beyond the headlines, many advisers are left asking the same question: What would I actually use it for? If your only experience of AI has been asking it to write the occasional email, youre only scratching the surface.
Getting Better Results from AI: The RTCC Framework
Artificial intelligence is only as good as the instructions you give it. If youve ever asked AI a question and received an answer that felt generic, vague or simply not quite right, dont be too quick to blame the technology.
The Golden Rule of AI for Financial Advisers: Protect Your Client Data
Artificial intelligence has the potential to transform the way advice firms work, helping to reduce administration, improve efficiency and free up more time for clients. But before embracing AI, there is one principle that should never be overlooked
FCA Pressure vs the Clock: Why UK Advisers Are Facing an Efficiency Crisis
For many firms, the biggest barrier to growth is no longer attracting new clients, its finding the capacity to service them without increasing costs or placing additional pressure on advisers and support staff.
Fidelity Adviser Solutions: Cybercriminals exploit people, not systems here's how
Todays cybercriminals are shifting their tactics. They are increasingly targeting human behaviour rather than systems, using tactics like phishing, impersonation, and psychological manipulation to gain access. Understanding these threats is key to protecting you, your business, clients, and reputation. 5-minute read
Panacea Conversations - Beyond the Questionnaire: Rethinking Attitude to Risk
In this episode of Panacea Conversations, we explore one of the most fundamental, and often misunderstood, aspects of the advice process: Attitude to Risk.
5 Themes Shaping This Weeks Trade Press Headlines
The specialist financial press produces hundreds of articles each week, but a handful of recurring themes often reveal what is really driving adviser conversations. Looking across Money Marketing, FT Adviser, Professional Adviser and Citywire this week, five issues have consistently dominated coverage.
Fidelity Adviser Solutions: Cybercriminals exploit people, not systems here's how
Todays cybercriminals are shifting their tactics. They are increasingly targeting human behaviour rather than systems, using tactics like phishing, impersonation, and psychological manipulation to gain access. Understanding these threats is key to protecting you, your business, clients, and reputation. 5-minute read
The overlooked asset in financial planning: your own well-being
What is wealth? According to Googles AI Overview, wealth in financial services is defined as: The total net value of all assets owned by an individual or household, including financial holdings and property, minus any outstanding debts or liabilities. In other words, the cold, hard numbers.
Turning great conversations into paying clients
A financial planner once told me about a meeting he had with a prospective client. The conversation was going brilliantly. They had been talking for nearly an hour. The client had opened up about their financial situation, their worries about retirement, and hopes for their children.
The next phase of advice: building trust in a cautious market
It looks like the UK advice market appears to be holding steady at around 31,000 since 2023, despite a 15% fall in the number of authorised firms over the same period. That is consolidation, not contraction. Large firms now account for around half of all assets under advice, with the market collectively serving more than 4.1 million clients across roughly £1 trillion in assets.
Wizard learning: 2025 CII Exam Pass Rates: What Do They Tell Us?
The latest published CII pass rates for 2025 show a mixed but encouraging picture for candidates preparing for exams across Financial Planning, Advanced Financial Planning, Mortgage Advice and related qualifications.
Could Social Media (and AI) Help Bring the Next Generation Into Financial Advice?
For years, the financial advice profession has faced a growing challenge: how do we attract younger talent into an industry built on trust, technical expertise, and long-term relationships? It is a challenge the profession can no longer afford to ignore.
One Year On: The Finfluencer
Twelve months ago, Panacea explored the growing influence of finfluencers" - social media personalities creating content around money, investing, budgeting, and financial decision-making.
Why Platform Due Diligence Is Becoming a Strategic Priority in 2026
For many advice firms, platform selection was once largely an operational decision.
Panacea Conversations - Serving Clients from the First Moment
In our first podcast of 2026, we explore one of the biggest shifts facing financial advisers today: as technical expertise becomes expected and AI reshapes client expectations, what truly sets great advisers apart?
Why Good Financial Planners Move On (Even When Theyre Doing Well)
Most Financial Planners dont leave because they cant do the job. In fact, its usually the opposite. They leave because, at some point, they realise their environment is holding them back.
Opening the time capsule: what financial services looked like in 1999
A reflection on the pre-dot-com crash financial landscape, capturing a 1999, high-market, pre-compliance era through a nostalgic lens. On 31 December 1999, I bought every newspaper I could find.
Reputation: Years to build, moments to unravel
Why preparation matters more than damage control for the reputation of your advice business.
Consumer Duty: What the FCAs latest guidance means for smaller advice firms
The FCA has quietly published an update on Consumer Duty reporting following its review of the first annual reports produced under the regime.
Give to Gain: How Financial Advice Can Close Its Gender Gap
In the UK today, fewer than one in five regulated financial advisers are women. Depending on the dataset, that figure sits around the 1820% mark. Five years ago, it was not materially different. Progress has been made, but it has been incremental rather than transformative.
When AI Chooses Your Adviser: Visibility vs. Suitability
Traditionally, finding an advisor was imperfect but transparent. A Google search, a personal referral, an advert, or maybe even a cream tea at a country club. The adviser could choose their niche. The client had options and personal referrals. Consumers had time to compare and overlay their own judgment, and often discovered what they really needed in the process.
Beyond the numbers: the quiet power of vulnerability
As a financial practitioner, its easy to stay in familiar territory. Talking with clients about products, investments, and financial strategies.
It's time to tidy up transfers
Platforms were built to modernise financial services, yet advisers still face average transfer times of 11.5 days, with some stretching beyond 40. Thats not progress.
Seven ways the role of a financial planner is gently shifting
Changes in financial planning dont always arrive with a bang. Sometimes they come quietly, over time, almost unnoticed unlike something externally imposed, such as Consumer Duty.
Why deep rapport matters more than ever for financial planners
Most financial planners are well-versed on the technical aspects of planning investment knowledge, asset allocation, and financial strategies.
From financial planning term to rap lyrics: the mainstreaming of money language
I was sitting in a nail salon at the weekend when a UK rap track came on over the speaker - Sprinter" by Central Cee and Dave (which I had to Shazam). Amid the rhythm and storytelling, one line immediately stood out:
Consumer trends, contentment and the quiet majority
How advisers can engage stable, supposedly low-movement households.