Industry news and views from Panacea and our partners.
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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.
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.
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
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 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.
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.
This Week Matters: What advisers should be paying attention to right now
Every week brings another wave of headlines, regulatory updates and market commentary. But for advisers, the real question is not simply what happened? Its what could influence client conversations, planning priorities, and the advice proposition?
Panacea Conversations - Serving Clients from the First Moment
As AI, automation and rising client expectations continue to reshape financial advice, technical expertise alone is no longer enough. In the first episode of Panacea Conversations, we sit down with John Dashfield from Client Centred Advisers to explore what clients are really buying, why first meetings matter more than ever, and how trust, communication and emotional intelligence are becoming the real differentiators in modern advice.
Standard Life - Aegon UK: a defining shift in retirement and platform dynamics
I worked with Scot Eq as a City Broker consultant for about 8 years before setting up my IFA business. Heady days of enjoyment, a sense of working for an old and trusted brand where a main competitor was Standard Life.
Can the UK fix its home-buying process and what it means for advisers
In the previous article, we looked at how Scotland and several European markets structure the home-buying process differently, particularly by introducing information and legal certainty much earlier.
What the UK can learn from Scotland and Europes home-buying systems
In the first part of this series, we explored why the home-buying process in England and Wales remains slow and fragile, despite a modern and efficient mortgage market sitting alongside it.
A modern mortgage market trapped in an outdated home-buying system
In a market where mortgage decisions can be turned around quickly, identity checks are increasingly digital and money can move instantly, the process of buying a home in England and Wales still takes months. By the governments own assessment, the average transaction takes around 120 days and roughly one in three sales falls through before completion.
April 1st - wisdom comes from experience, experience comes from poor past judgement
Many advisers (who are still around: will recall the regulatory failure of the banks during the 2008 financial crisis and the action the UK government took in deciding to restructure financial regulation and abolish the FSA.
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.
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:
Broken crayons can still colour
Most of us have that one message of hope and inspiration that somehow manages to help bring some perspective and optimism to a situation. I hope this is one that you can take from me.
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.
Shine a Light on Adviser Pain Points
We want adviser experience clearly heard by regulators, FOS and the wider industry in 2026. This anonymous 34 minute survey helps highlight pressure points and shape how we advocate and prioritise support.
Financial Ombudsman Service needs significant overhaul in 2026
An article in FT Adviser on 2nd December highlights growing concern over how the Financial Ombudsman Service exercises its discretionary powers, especially around time-barred cases and inconsistent decision making. The article includes views from Panaceas CEO, Derek Bradley who argues that firms need clearer processes, stronger independent oversight and, critically, a realistic right of appeal that doesnt require a costly judicial review.
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.
How will a Fos longstop impact adviser complaints?
The debate around a statutory long-stop on advice complaints has surfaced again, with concern that advisers remain indefinitely liable for historic recommendations. In this recent FT Adviser podcast, Derek joins Alan Lakey, Director of Highclere Financial Services, to reflect on what this means in practice for firms, particularly as expectations around record-keeping, disclosure and Consumer Duty continue to increase.
The Psychology of Investing and Why Gender Matters in Client Behaviour
When clients entrust advisers with their financial futures, they often believe that decisions will be objective, rational, and entirely data?driven. In reality, decisions are heavily shaped by emotions, biases, and mental frameworks. Understanding these psychological drivers, and how they differ across client groups, is essential to delivering truly personalised financial advice.
Financial services industry about to be treated as a milking cow- again.
To borrow from the Sinatra classic, Redress schemes, weve had a few, but then again too many to mention. Back in December the FCA extended the deadline for motor finance lenders to respond to complaints regarding historic commissions paid to dealers on car loans sold to assist the sale.
Where the Money Is Going: Top 20 UK Postcodes by Investment Flows in June 2025
Understanding how much investment is being written by advisers in different parts of the UK provides valuable context - not just for national trends, but for regional opportunity. Advisers know the volume of business theyre personally placing, but how does that compare to the flows being generated around them?
Good evening all
Those of a certain age will remember Constable George Dixon at the Dock Green police station in the East End of London. His life was simply spent dealing with crime, successfully controlling it through common sense and human understanding.
Just little bits of history repeating itself?
A key factor responsible for the 2008 financial crisis in the United Kingdom was excessive risk-taking by banks. In the years leading up to the crisis, UK banks were giving out risky mortgage loans (100% plus in some cases) as well as investing in high-risk financial products without very little caution at all.
Is something really rotten in the state of Denmark?
We hear this week that in August 2023, the Ministry of Defence mounted a huge cover-up exercise by successfully obtaining an unprecedented super-injunction. Since that date a cloak of secrecy was maintained by way of the total news blackout it created. Government ministers of the past and current administrations have simply been running one of the biggest relocation programmes with no knowledge of the public and it seems many fellow government ministers.
When did it all go wrong?
After the various health travails that many, if not all of us, must go through as we get a bit older, I find myself having to have yet another blood test. My GP told me that despite him wanting to do some checks on my various medications his surgery cannot do that blood test themselves for many weeks as their nurse who does these things is off sick for a couple of weeks. Due to this I had to make an appointment at an NHS unit near me.
Rethinking Adviser Support: How Diverse Perspectives Are Enhancing the Financial Advice Profession
Being nominated for Professional Advisers Woman of the Year Adviser Support Services (Small/Medium Firms) has been a moment of real pride and reflection.
The profession responds to the rising power of financial influencers
Back in 2022, research revealed that 62% of 1829-year-olds in the UK were turning to finfluencers - social media personalities offering financial advice - with 74% of those followers trusting the guidance they received. That influence translated into action, with many young people making real-world financial decisions based on what they saw online.
Thoughts for VE day 80
8 May 1945, VE day, was a date for national celebration marking the WW2 Victory in Europe.
Never, ever do the easy wrong instead of the harder right.
The standard initial measure for prostate cancer detection is a PSA test. It is a blood test that measures the level of prostate-specific antigens, it can be unreliable, this was explained to me, especially as my previous results had been negative. In other words, it may not detect the actual presence of a cancer.
Thoughts on 2 Tier Keir and Inducements
I am sure that those financial services professionals with time served will recall that many years ago restrictions were brought in by the FCA regarding inducements given or received in regard to financial advice and portfolio management under an extension of MIFIDII. What is classed as an inducement by the FCA?
Consumer Duty An Opportunity to Earn Trust
Financial advice professionals have known for years that their professional reputation is everything. As we head toward Q2 2024, they must now embrace Consumer Duty as the catalyst to continue consumer trust.
Consumer Duty Playing Chicken is not an option
During a roundtable discussion on Consumer Duty implementation with fund managers last week, we learned that some fund managers were playing a game of chicken with the regulator. Many firms are postponing their implementation until they know how the FCA will enforce Consumer Duty. Fund managers stand to win if the fine for non-compliance is lower than the cost of implementation!
Cancer matters
This time last year, on Valentines Day in fact, following a recurrence of prostate cancer symptoms, I arrived at the Princess Grace Hospital in London to undergo a radical robotic prostatectomy to get rid of the cancer, hopefully, once and for all.
The Rise of Finfluencers: Navigating Finance in Social Media
In the ever-evolving landscape of social media, a new breed of influencers has emerged, blending financial expertise with the power of digital platforms. Meet the "Finfluencers" - individuals who use their knowledge and charisma to educate and engage audiences on matters of personal finance, investment, and economic trends. This phenomenon marks a significant shift in the way people consume financial information and highlights the growing influence of social media in shaping financial decisions.
What should advisers learn from the Post Office horror story?
The Irish comedian Frank Carson had a catch phrase many will still recall today: its the way I tellem. A catch phrase that could easily, retrospectively apply to the Post Office management and Fujitsu.
Can Generation Z work alongside people with different views?
According to Channel 4 boss Alex Mahon the answer is no. Young people in the workplace don't have the skills to debate, disagree and work alongside people with different opinions. Generation Z, like any other generation, is not inherently unable to work alongside people with different views. It is just that they have not encountered in their often very sheltered life, partly influenced by Covid lock downs and a cloistered world of academia, that somebody elses opinion may differ from theirs or even, heaven forbid, may confirm that their thinking is just plain stupid.