Good morning and welcome to your Morning Briefing for Wednesday 29 October 2025. To get this in your inbox every morning click here.
Allfunds grows AuA to €1.7trn as platform revenues rise
Allfunds has reported a 17.9% increase in assets under administration (AuA) to €1.7trn, supported by strong client inflows and positive market performance across its platform business.
Net flows reached €85.8bn in the first nine months of 2025, up 76% year on year, reflecting higher inflows from both new and existing clients. Market performance added a further €23.1bn over the period.
Total net revenue for the first nine months rose 6% to €472.9m, or 12.8% excluding net treasury income.
What can the construction world teach us about consolidation?
Consolidation and succession planning continue to shape the future of the advice industry.
Acquirers and advice firms embarking on this process can learn something by thinking like a construction manager: hard hat on, plans in hand and eyes wide open, writes Jo Swain, chief risk officer at Clifton Asset Management.
Major construction projects often face unexpected delays, sometimes due to unforeseen discoveries beneath the surface, whether that’s unexplained remains or hidden cables.
Oakley Capital appoints new chair as fund plots next growth phase
Oakley Capital Investments has appointed veteran fund manager Christopher Samuel as chair designate.
The move marks a strategic step to strengthen governance and build on the firm’s recent FTSE 250 inclusion.
Samuel, currently chair of Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and a non-executive director at Quilter, will formally take over as chair of the Oakley board in March 2026 following a planned transition period.
Quote Of The Day
Better-than-expected inflation data has taken the shine off the yellow metal, but the prospect of falling treasury yields and continuing dollar weakness could tempt some to buy the dip
– Derren Nathan, head of equity research, Hargreaves Lansdown, on gold falling in price following the stock market rally
Stat Attack
Social media ‘finfluencers’ play an important role in building confidence by helping to make investing more relatable and accessible.
However, new research from Barclays reveals how the aspirational lifestyle projected by certain content creators can persuade their audience that they can achieve the same financial success – even when they know it might be too good to be true.
24%
of investors feel under pressure to act quickly on unsolicited investment advice from social-media influencers.
35%
say influencers use emotions such as greed and FOMO to encourage viewers to act on recommendations.
48%
of Gen Z investors (aged 18–27) feel pressure to act quickly on social-media investment advice – double the national average.
58%
of Gen Z investors are more likely to follow investment tips from influencers who appear to have made a lot of money.
53%
of social-media investors do not always carry out checks to verify the reliability of ‘finfluencer’ content.
33%
of investors have acted on investment advice from a social-media influencer.
42%
of those who acted on social-media investment content admit to losing money as a result.
56%
believe they can spot warning signs that a ‘finfluencer’ may not be trustworthy.
44%
Identify “get rich quick” promises as a major red flag in influencer content.
Source: Barclays
In Other News
Elston has launched the UK’s first Smoothed MPS and Smoothed Retirement MPS ranges on Aviva’s pension, ISA and onshore bond wrappers.
The Elston Smoothed ASF Portfolios are aimed at advisers blending multi-asset and smoothed funds for clients in accumulation, while the Elston Smoothed Retirement ASF Portfolios target those combining cash buckets with smoothed funds for clients in decumulation.
Each portfolio uses Elston’s “managed bucket” structure, consisting of near-term liquidity, medium-term stabiliser and long-term smoothed allocations, the latter including exposure to an Aviva smoothed fund.
The approach, first introduced in Elston’s retirement portfolios in 2021, is designed to mitigate sequencing risk through dynamic management of the buckets.
Both new ranges were designed by Elston Consulting, manufactured by Elston Portfolio Management, and are available exclusively on the Aviva platform.
Annuity rates rose 9.68% in September compared to the same period last year, according to the Standard Life Annuity Rates Tracker.
The average rate reached 7.65%, meaning a healthy 65-year-old with a £100,000 pension pot could now secure an annual income of about £7,650 – up £670 from September 2024, when the rate was 6.98%.
At current levels, retirees could recoup their original investment within 13 years, an improvement of almost a decade compared with the market’s lowest point.
Standard Life said the increase reflects a continuing shift in retirement planning dynamics, potentially adding £14,000–£15,000 in total lifetime income for a typical retiree.
Britain can defy gloomy economic forecasts, says Rachel Reeves (The Guardian)
Deregulation will pour extra fuel on the private credit bonfire (Financial Times)
Britain forgot subsidized housing needs a subsidy (Bloomberg)
Did You See?
You want your clients to read the stuff you write, don’t you?
Of course you do. Yet many advisers’ work is probably not being read, because they’re not writing in a way that works for their clients, writes David Butcher, managing director of consultancy firm Communications and Content.
The way that people read has been changing profoundly. Advisers who can adapt their writing accordingly will probably engage their clients. Advisers that don’t…well, you might as well cook a lovely meal, then scrape it straight into the bin.
Evidence suggests that much financial content falls into the latter category. Think of long, waffly reports with conclusions buried at the end, reams of data and poor readability scores. We’ve all seen them.
Advised clients don’t generally want that any more. Let me explain why, and what they do want instead
