Good morning and welcome to your Morning Briefing for Thursday 25 September 2025. To get this in your inbox every morning click here.
Advisers take diverging paths to tackle tech fragmentation
Adviser firms are taking different approaches to tackle fragmented systems and poor integration, according to NextWealth’s latest report.
Despite some isolated successes, advisers say a lack of seamless connectivity remains the biggest weakness in their tech infrastructure.
NextWealth warns that fragmentation slows firms down, undermines efficiency, weakens the client experience and increases compliance risks.
Client reassurance matters more than Budget rumours
There are 84 days between the announcement of the 2025 Budget date and the actual speech. That’s a whole heap of time for social-media ‘finfluencers’ to spread rumours.
Of course, some journalists offer ‘helpful’ suggestions. Only last week, a newspaper ran the headline, “Why you must take your tax-free pension lump sum NOW if you need it.”
The capitalisation was all their own work, by the way – that’s how certain they are it’s the right thing to do.
InvestAcc set for AJ Bell SIPP deal as revenues rise 20%
Pension administrator InvestAcc has reported a strong first half of 2025, with organic growth in its core SIPP business.
Revenues rose 20.3% year-on-year to £6m in the six months to 30 June, driven by a 21.7% increase in the number of SIPPs administered to 13,434. Trading EBITDA climbed 32.8% to £2.8m, delivering a margin of 46.7%.
Executive chairman Mark Hodges said the performance reflected both “excellent organic growth and considerable strategic progress” as the group builds scale in pension administration.
Quote Of The Day
Financial crime controls may look like compliance costs on a spreadsheet — but they are the ultimate investment
-says Therese Chambers, the FCA’s executive director of enforcement and market oversight, at AFME’s European Compliance and Legal Conference.
Stat Attack
Wealthy clients are increasingly seeking inheritance tax and estate planning advice ahead of the Autumn Budget, according to new insights from Rathbones Group. A survey of 460 clients with up to £5m in investable assets found:
43%
expect to need inheritance and estate planning advice in the next year
11%
are exploring gifting options
19%
cite pensions, retirement and later-life planning as key concerns
14%
highlight tax efficiency
5%
point to cashflow management
Source: Rathbones Group
In Other News
The Association of Investment Companies (AIC) has criticised the government for failing to amend the Pension Schemes Bill to allow listed investment companies to count towards pension schemes’ allocations to private assets.
The Bill gives ministers powers to compel schemes to invest in private assets, but as drafted excludes investment companies holding such assets. The AIC argues this would reduce competition, increase costs, and limit choice for pension savers.
Chief executive Richard Stone said: “Excluding investment companies would be bad for competition, resulting in higher costs and a lower-quality offering. We urge the government to amend the Bill as it passes through the House of Lords.”
Investment companies currently hold more than £110bn in private assets, including infrastructure, renewables, property, venture capital and private businesses. In July, the AIC wrote to Treasury minister Torsten Bell MP pressing for the change.
HSBC Private Bank has unveiled Wealth Intelligence, a generative AI-powered platform for advisers and product specialists to deliver market insights and personalised strategies.
Built in-house and powered by OpenAI’s LLM, the system analyses over 10,000 data sources, summarises research, and integrates third-party product information. Future updates will allow screening of suitable products to support investment discussions.
Initially rolled out in Hong Kong and Singapore, the platform will expand globally. CEO Gabriel Castello said AI will help bankers focus more on client needs, while HSBC’s Lavanya Chari highlighted AI as a key pillar in enhancing client experience and decision-making.
UK Budget angst hits gilt auctions as investor appetite fades (Bloomberg)
Inside the billion-dollar quest to live beyond 100 (Financial Times)
Private detectives tail French workers to root out surging sick leave fraud (Reuters)
Did You See?
For many clients, both advisory and institutional, passive investing has long been the go-to solution for efficient market exposure, writes Cristian Balteo, senior investment specialist at Nordea Asset Management.
Yet in today’s more complex, dynamic and uncertain environment, passive strategies come with structural limitations.
They offer no path to excess return, no ability to respond to market signals and no insulation from inefficiencies embedded in the index.
While the annual underperformance may seem minor, the power of compounding means that over time it could result in substantial long-term opportunity costs.
Ultimately, in a market environment shaped by concentration and rapid shifts, the challenge may lie not in choosing between passive and active, but in adapting to a new investment reality.
