Good morning and welcome to your Morning Briefing for Monday 24 November 2025. To get this in your inbox every morning click here.
New initiative launched to ease adviser shortage
A new national initiative has been launched to tackle the growing shortage of qualified financial advisers, providing firms with a heavily funded route to recruit and train new entrants into the profession.
The programme, developed by LIBF – part of Walbrook Institute London – in partnership with Future Financial Adviser (FFA), offers advisory firms a 95% funded, fully managed pathway to attract, train and retain the next generation of talent.
Pensioner taxpayers could hit 10 million by 2030, says LCP
Hundreds of thousands more pensioners could be pulled into paying income tax if the chancellor extends the freeze on tax thresholds for a further two years.
This is according to new modelling from consultancy LCP, conducted by LCP partner and former pensions minister Steve Webb.
It estimates that at least an additional half a million state pensioners would become taxpayers under a prolonged freeze, even after allowing for the rise in state pension age from 66 to 67.
Eleos Life launch AI voice agent to support insurance customers
Eleos Life has launched its AI voice agent, designed to provide instant, 24/7 assistance to insurance customers in hopes of reducing waiting times.
This AI voice agent supports customers with updating policy coverage details, cancelling existing policies and sharing feedback to help the provider continue to innovate.
Offering an accessible service for those who may find reading online content or writing emails challenging, it can also make outbound calls to guide prospective customers toward clearer, more confident choices.
Quote Of The Day
The pressure is on to dig into the scrabble bag and come up with enough high scoring tax measures
– Danni Hewson, AJ Bell head of financial analysis, on the news that borrowing for October came in at £17.4bn, £3bn more than forecast by the OBR in March
Wealth managers around the world are rapidly adopting stablecoins as part of their investment strategies, according to new research from Brava Finance.
The study suggests understanding and usage of stablecoins is now widespread across major markets, with most managers expecting institutional adoption to rise sharply in the years ahead.
94%
of wealth managers have already invested in stablecoins.
94%
of those investors are using stablecoins to generate yield.
88%
say they have a good or better understanding of stablecoins.
74%
cite fast, low-cost transactions as the top use case.
100%
of wealth managers across nine major markets are developing a stablecoin strategy.
90%
expect institutional investors’ use of stablecoins to rise over the next three years.
98%
expect increased stablecoin issuance by asset managers within five years.
42%
predict a dramatic increase in issuance.
Source: Brava Finance
In Other News
Brooks Macdonald has appointed Simon Taylor as director of strategic partnerships, tasking him with leading the firm’s engagement with financial advisers across the UK as regulatory and investment conditions continue to evolve.
Taylor joins from Rathbones, where he was head of strategic partnerships and platforms.
He previously held senior roles at Standard Life and Aberdeen Standard Investments, managing relationships with some of their largest intermediary partners.
Neil Cowell, director of distribution at Brooks Macdonald, said the appointment would support the firm’s efforts to strengthen its relationships with advisers and deliver a more integrated service.
“I’m pleased to welcome Simon to Brooks Macdonald to lead the company’s strategic positioning and engagement across the intermediary market, helping us to deliver a joined-up service to key clients and strengthen our overall partnership proposition,” he said.
“This will further enhance our delivery of market-leading solutions that meet the evolving needs of our valued advisers and their clients.”
From Elsewhere
Reeves to hit 100,000 properties with tax levy to balance books (The Times)
CEOs threaten to cut UK investments if Budget costs them more (Bloomberg)
Minister denies Budget leaks have damaged economy (BBC News)
Did You See?
For as long as there has been an economic infrastructure, human nature has dictated that feelings often spark kneejerk financial actions with long-term consequences, writes Tom Hegarty, CEO of Simplybiz.
From the South Sea Bubble of 1720 and the 1929 Wall Street Crash to the GameStop short squeeze of just a few years ago, consumer concern – although completely understandable – has acted as fuel to the fire of any market uncertainty, resulting in more concern, then more volatility, and so on.
While the cycle of rumour leading to panic leading to market instability and back again is unlikely to ever change, something that has changed is the scale and speed in which an initial piece of news or speculation can spread and, inevitably, mutate.
News, misinformation and disinformation can reach millions of people at the touch of button, ‘reliable sources’ are becoming increasingly difficult to pinpoint, and the line between the way ‘truth’ and ‘opinion’ are consumed is more blurred than ever before.
The upcoming Budget has inevitably already fallen victim to this type of attention, with ‘leaks’ of information becoming the subject of both expert and amateur commentary on what potential changes on November 26 could potentially mean for the economy.
Equally inevitably, this speculation is already creating client anxiety and – even more worryingly – activity.
