Industry news and views from Panacea and our partners.
Business Development_
Growth with intent
Most advice firms dont lack ambition. They lack architecture. You hit £5m, £10m in revenue. You bring in advisers, hire a COO, get a project around technology. Youve got three-year forecasts, hiring plans, and AUM targets. Maybe even a succession framework someone called robust.
Cartoon...or Credible? The AI Avatar Question
A new LinkedIn trend is gaining traction: professionals using AI tools to generate caricature style images of themselves, often paired with visual cues about their role. Financial advisers appear as animated planners juggling charts, calculators, or coffee cups. The tone is playful, self aware, and intentionally informal.
Paraplanners face aspiration and confidence gap over future career paths
Just over half (51%) of paraplanners want to progress their career within paraplanning. Only 13% see themselves becoming financial advisers/planners down from 24% in 2025.
How to manage HR & get the best people for the job
Managing people is one of the most complex responsibilities for any advice firm and one of the most important. From recruiting the right talent and understanding legal obligations, through to performance management, flexible working and handling difficult conversations, getting HR right underpins a sustainable, compliant business.
British banking preferences revealed: digital vs in-person
Mobile apps, online portals, and automated support all make it easier for consumers to handle banking on their own. Yet data from YouGov Profiles shows theres still a strong demand for human interaction when it comes to more complex or sensitive matters.
2026 'Financial Planning: Fascinating Facts and Figures' Salary Guide
As the advice profession continues to evolve, having a clear view of salary trends, firm structures and recruitment dynamics is increasingly valuable. Paul Harper Searchs 2026 guide brings together headhunt data, FCA insights and industry feedback to provide a current snapshot of the UK financial planning market.
HR Essentials for Small - Medium Adviser Firms
A practical HR guide created specifically for UK financial adviser firms. Managing people alongside regulation, growth and client delivery isnt easy - especially without dedicated HR support. This guide focuses on the real HR issues adviser firms face, with clear, practical guidance you can actually use.
AI Shows Exactly Where Your Messaging Falls Flat. Here's How to Fix It
Did you know that 74% of consumers are likely to switch brands if they find the purchasing process too confusing? In today's fast-paced digital world, clear and effective communication is more crucial than ever.
Consumer confidence was static in September 2025
Headline consumer confidence was static in September, according to the latest data from YouGov and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr). With declining household finance measures and rising confidence in house prices, the overall Index scored 107.7: the same score as August 2025.
YouGov: Britain's BNPL users: younger, female and financially strained
Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services - once a niche checkout option - is reaching the mainstream. YouGov data shows that about a third of British adults have used BNPL at some point. However, a small group of frequent users (3.4% of the overall population) uses this form of payment at least once a month. These frequent users exhibit distinct demographic, income, and credit profiles.
Beyond Cost: Rethinking the Strategic Value of Business Support
Outsourced paraplanning. Admin support. Ops hires. Tech platforms...
AI in Advice: A Practical Guide for Financial Advisers
Download Panacea's free guide to using AI in financial advice - with practical tips, FCA-aligned compliance guidance, and real-world examples.
Is Adviser Sentiment Turning a Corner?
UK IA Sector Net Flows: February July 2025 Advisers may be edging back towards confidence, with fresh flows showing a mix of caution and renewed appetite for risk.
AI for Client Service: Personalisation Without the Heavy Lifting
Strong client relationships are built on timely, tailored communication. But maintaining that level of personalisation across every interaction can be resource-heavy. In the sixth article of our 'AI for Advisers' series, we show how advisers can use AI to support everyday client touch points, without losing the human touch.
AI for Advisers: Practical Guidance for the Advice Profession
AI for Advisers is Panacea's new content series exploring how artificial intelligence is being used across the financial advice profession - securely, ethically, and in line with FCA expectations.
Starmergeddon on the port bow
Justin Urquhart Stewart wrote on Linkedin this week: This is madness from a government which is threatening most families' largest asset, namely their property. At a time when we need to be encouraging everybody's confidence, threatening the value of this vital asset is frankly stupid and displays an astonishing level of ignorance.
Should Paraplanners Be More Formally Recognised by the FCA?
We recently ran an industry survey asking a simple but important question: Should paraplanners be more formally recognised by the FCA? The findings reveal some striking differences in how paraplanners, advisers, compliance professionals, and business owners view the role of paraplanners when it comes to FCA recognition, regulatory oversight, and qualifications.
The power of systems and how they can change your life
I enjoy reading books and every now and then I read one that is outstandingly good. The most recent of these is The power of systems by Steve Chandler and Trevor Timbeck. Its a book about creating better, more consistent results in whatever you choose to do.
Should you take notes in a financial planning meeting?
What is the right approach to taking notes in a financial planning meeting? This is a question that often comes up in my coaching programmes with financial planners.
9 AI Prompts to Turn Technical Advice into Engaging Visuals
Communicating complex advice is easier when clients can visualise the message. With tools like ChatGPTs image generation, you can now produce professional infographics without design software or specialist skills.
Turn AI Into a Content Ally: Creating Articles, Newsletters and Pages That Get Read
AI can do more than just speed up content creation, it can help you produce newsletters, blogs and FAQs that clients and prospects actually want to read. This article explores how to use AI as a drafting partner, not a replacement, with tips on choosing the right topics, structuring content for engagement, and making sure your message gets seen, read and acted on.
6 AI Tools You Can Use to Enhance Your Digital Presence - Without a Marketing Team
Enhancing your online presence doesnt have to mean outsourcing or overhauling your team. In the latest instalment of our AI for Advisers series, we explore six practical tools that can help adviser firms create content, design visuals, schedule posts, and personalise communicationsall without a dedicated marketing function. This fifth article walks through each tool in the logical order youd use them, helping you build a consistent, professional digital presence while staying compliant.
Creating an Internal AI Policy for Your Advice Firm
With the FCA watching and the SEC already fining firms for AI washing, the time to define how your team uses AI is before enforcement begins. In this new article, we explore what a practical, FCA-conscious internal AI policy should include, from permitted use cases to oversight, training and audit trails.
6 AI Prompts to Make Investment Risk More Understandable
Were currently navigating one of the most volatile periods of 2025. Aprils global market shock, sparked by sweeping U.S. tariffs, led to the worst two-day sell-off since 2020. The FTSE 100 dropped nearly 5% in a single session, and bond markets swung wildly in response to political and economic uncertainty.
Should Paraplanners Be Formally Recognised?
Paraplanners are central to the advice process, but their role remains unlisted on the FCA Register and outside the SMCR framework. This short survey gives you the chance to shape the conversation. Well be sharing the results with the FCA to help them better understand the role paraplanners play and whether formal recognition or regulation is needed.
You Gov: Consumer Duty: 60% of GB adults show at least one characteristic that makes them potentially vulnerable customers
The latest data from our Consumer Duty Index reveals that despite the proportion of potentially vulnerable customers dropping from 63% in April 2024 to 60% in April 2025, more customers than not remain potentially vulnerable.
Consumer Duty & Artificial Intelligence
Well, how about starting an article with the two most trendy watchwords. What on earth can I write that has not already been covered several times? We probably need to remember that there is very little new under the sun. After all, people have been acting very sustainably for years when they hang out their washing to dry using wind and solar power.
Women Advisers Inching Forward
For those of you who track trends in financial services, youll know that one of the most striking developments in recent years has been the rapid growth in earnings among female financial planners. According to the latest edition of Paul Harper Search's Financial Planning - Fascinating Facts and Figures 2024/25, womens total average earnings in the financial planning profession have risen by a remarkable 52% between 2021 and 2024. By contrast, mens earnings have increased by just 14% over the same period.
Talent isn't Moving - Here's Why...
Why Is It So Hard to Hire Financial Services Talent Right Now? Paul Harper says a question he hears a lot is: With the economy looking shaky and vacancies dropping, why are we struggling to hire? On paper, it should be straightforward. The RECs Report on Jobs shows that UK vacancies have been falling month on month since the October budget. Surely, in this kind of environment, people would be queuing up for new roles right?
Rethinking the Academies - Building Careers, Not Just Qualifications
Theres been a lot of discussion recently, both in the press and within the profession, about academies and our struggle to grow the financial planning profession fast enough to replace those leaving says Paul Harper of Paul Harper Search. More people are exiting the industry than entering it, and thats true across nearly every age bracket, except, worryingly, for the over-50s.
Phishing fears in the AI era
How concerned are Brits as AI tech advances and do they think financial institutions are doing enough to prevent phishing scams in 2025?
So Many Candidates... So Little Choice
Have you noticed how easy it is to apply for a job nowadays but how difficult it is to secure an interview? If you've found yourself undertaking a job search recently, either through ambition or necessity, you can't have failed to notice how easy it is to apply. All you need to do is push a couple of buttons, and your CV wizzes its way off to a potential employer.
We don't need no stinking badges 6
Viewing classic movies can often throw up interesting parallels for the future. One of my favourite retrospectives is the Mel Brooks classic Blazing Saddles.
Complaints - a business opportunity
When adviser firms think of complaints, it is often difficult to think of anything other than negative consequences. Minds immediately stray towards the Financial Ombudsman Service and some painful administration work.
The Value of Professional Qualifications
Back when Paul Harper gained his Chartered qualification, through the CII, it took a lot of work but had very little practical value when completed.
Adviser Bonus Schemes - Do They Drive Success or Create Challenges?
Ineffective bonus schemes are a major cause of employee dissatisfaction and staff turnover says Paul Harper, Managing Director of Paul Harper Search. While most employers recognise that their bonus scheme should motivate individuals and encourage them to engage in the right behaviours, many would admit that they may not have got it exactly right on occasion.
Why Aren't Financial Planners Growing Their Client Book?
According to Paul Harmer, Managing Director at Paul Harper Search, this is a question that many directors of Financial Planning firms are asking at present. Inevitably, with raised interest rates, the cost of capital has risen, and many of the PE and Family Office-backed Buy and Build firms are under pressure.
In Search of Clint Eastwood
You have found some great Directors for me, but I need more of a Clint Eastwood - Actor, Director, and Producer said one of Paul Harper Searchs clients as they reviewed how an Executive Search assignment was progressing.
Attracting Growth-Focused Financial Planners
Amidst the ongoing consolidation and turnover of adviser staff, it's easy to assume that companies are primarily seeking advisers for client bank management says Paul Harper, Managing Director of Paul Harper Search. However, this overlooks the persistent desire for growth in the medium term, especially among PE-backed businesses undertaking rapid acquisition strategies.
Vetted Adviser "Find an Adviser" is Consumer Duty friendly with NO charge per lead!
When clients are searching for the right adviser our 'Find an Adviser' tool is here to help! Clients simply share their requirements and if an adviser can assist, they receive an introduction email and a link to their profile.