Good morning and welcome to your Morning Briefing for Wednesday 3 December 2025. To get this in your inbox every morning click here.
Inside protection’s rift: service failures, compliance and falling value
At the end of October, a candid Money Marketing roundtable – sponsored by The Exeter – revealed the real friction in protection: service failures, network price pressure, mental-health exclusions and a market losing sight of value.
The roundtable has barely begun when a participant starts outlining his biggest challenge. While he is speaking, a phone on the table suddenly wakes up and says: “Absolutely. I can help with that.”
The room erupts into laughter. It is a light moment, but symbolic. Technology is inserting itself into conversations without being invited.
A Budget smorgasbord that guarantees indigestion
When the lexicographers popped their heads out of their ivory towers to announce the Word of the Year, there was no surprise when the likes of “growth”, “stability” and “tough-choices” were conspicuous by their absence, writes AJ Bell founder Andy Bell.
Somewhat more surprisingly, “smorgasbord” didn’t make it onto the podium. Literally, a Swedish buffet with a wide variety of hot and cold dishes.
Figuratively, a mish mash of pernicious tax policies presented by a chancellor who didn’t have the bottle to put 2p on income tax or take control of public sector and welfare spending.
Only a fifth of advisers have developed clear profiles for their target clients
Only a fifth of advisers (22%) have developed clear and defined profiles for the type of clients they wish to attract to their business, new research has revealed.
NextWealth and Aegon’s latest guide, Organic Growth for Financial Advice Firms, suggests those who haven’t done may be limiting their growth opportunities.
Overall, 47% of advisers said they had a general idea of their target clients, but 30% admitted that they had no target profiles at all.
Quote Of The Day
Everyone deserves access to meaningful financial help, and targeted support is a once in a generation opportunity to reshape how people access it
– Ben Hampton, CEO Advice at Royal London, on over 20 million people needing support with their finances
FNZ, the global wealth management platform, has announced the launch of a landmark global study, The AI-Powered Investment Firm, revealing the scale and speed at which artificial intelligence is transforming the global wealth and asset management industry. Key highlights:
73%
of financial executives say AI is critical to the future of their business, and 63% believe it will transform wealth and asset management
88%
of firms report positive returns on AI investment. Almost 19% have achieved returns above 7 percent
62%
say they recouped their AI investment within two years
87%
of AI leaders have made strong progress building integrated, cloud-enabled IT platforms
81%
have formal AI governance frameworks in place, while 62% say clearer risk guidance would accelerate adoption
73%
expect AI to boost human productivity by taking over routine tasks, allowing advisers to focus on relationships and complex judgement
Firms say AI will increasingly automate key operational areas such as trade and transaction execution (40%), client onboarding (36%) and performance monitoring (35%)
Source: FNZ
In Other News
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has announced the acquisition of UK-based First Actuarial.
First Actuarial provides pension administration, employee benefits, consultancy and investment services to employers and pension plan trustees throughout the UK.
The First Actuarial team, led by David Joy, will remain in their current locations under the guidance of David Piltz, head of Gallagher’s UK Benefits and HR Consulting Division.
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co, a global insurance brokerage, risk management and consulting services firm, is headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois.
Gallagher provides these services in approximately 130 countries around the world through its owned operations and a network of correspondent brokers and consultants.
From Elsewhere
The AI frenzy is driving a memory chip supply crisis (Reuters)
Bitcoin hits two-week High but crypto sentiment remains fragile (Bloomberg)
HSBC appoints Brendan Nelson as chair (Financial Times)
Did You See?
More than half of financial advisers say poor platform service continues to harm their business, according to new research from Parmenion.
Its latest report, The Impact of Poor Platform Service, found 54% of advisers believe it has a significant impact on their firm – an improvement from 80% in last year’s study.
Service issues remain widespread. Ninety per cent of advisers said they have apologised to clients in the past year because of platform failings, down slightly from 95% in 2024.
Four in ten advisers have switched platform due to service problems, while firms still lose an average of four hours a week dealing with platform-related friction. Although this is an improvement on last year’s 5.3 hours, Parmenion warns productivity losses remain too high.
