Good morning and welcome to your Morning Briefing for Wednesday 8 October 2025. To get this in your inbox every morning click here.
SJP unveils new range of low-cost funds
St. James’s Place (SJP) has unveiled a new low-cost fund range following the recent overhaul of its fee structure.
The wealth manager has expanded its investment offering with new Polaris Multi-Index range, priced at 0.20%.
The funds will use SJP’s active asset allocation expertise and invest solely in index- tracking strategies be available to SJP clients later this month.
Guns versus gadgets – have defence stocks burst the AI bubble?
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been an omnipresent force in the UK for some time, with numerous industry professionals, including those in financial services, implementing the technology in both their professional and their personal life.
Yet, despite the constant hype surrounding AI that is fed by headlines and company CEOs, and even by prime minister Keir Starmer with his appointment of an AI adviser, UK investors are not as bullish towards the tech as they once were.
This, in part, is a result of the phenomenal rise in popularity of defence stocks.
Why advisers should volunteer to help tackle problem debt
Having spent many years meeting financial advisers up and down the country, I’m convinced that they represent an untapped source that could hugely contribute to tackling a major social issue – problem debt, writes former pensions minister Steve Webb.
Debt charity Step Change – just one of many agencies working in this field – reported that over 170,000 clients completed debt advice with them for the first time in 2024.
Areas of debt on the rise included energy bills, following the huge hikes in energy costs in recent years, and council tax arrears, as council tax bills continue to rise faster than inflation.
Quote Of The Day
The General de Gaulle once famously said: “how can you govern a country with 246 varieties of cheese?” But the problem this time appears a lot more serious than a vast supply of cheese
– Benoit Anne, senior anaging Director and Head of Market Insights Group of MFS Investment Management, on the political crisis in France
Stat Attack
New research from Raisin UK’s Great British Savings Report reveals the habits of 18-24 year olds – known as ‘Gen Z’
It shows:
30%
of Gen Z (18–24) turn to banks for financial advice.
26%
rely on friends or family for money guidance.
7%
of Gen Z say they use TikTok for financial advice.
Over 25%
of Millennials (25–34) use TikTok (“FinTok”) for money tips.
1 in 5
Millennials use ChatGPT for financial advice.
275%
the year-on-year increase in TikTok #FinTok content views, showing rapid growth in demand for bite-size financial education.
Source: Raisin UK
In Other News
SEI has appointed Dave Langdale as chief revenue officer for its US private banking business.
Reporting to CEO of SEI international, Sanjay Sharma, Langdale will lead sales, client service and growth strategy across new and existing clients.
He currently serves as global head of operations, overseeing SEI’s global footprint, including SEI Private Trust Company and its Hyderabad capabilities centre.
A 20-year SEI veteran, Langdale has held several leadership roles, including president of SEI Private Trust Company.
He will take on the role on 1 January 2026.
Pension-finding platform, Raindrop has recovered over £800m in lost pension pot savings for UK savers since launch.
During 2025, Raindrop reunited savers with almost £400m from lost or forgotten pension pots, already surpassing the £251m found in 2024.
In total, Raindrop’s pension-finding technology has recovered over 70,000 individual pots with an average value of over £11,000.
Research from the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) revealed that £31.1bn is estimated to be sitting in lost pension pots.
There are almost 3.3 million lost pots in the UK, with an average value of nearly £9,500.
Raindrop’s pension finding technology already collaborates with some the UK’s largest pension providers and financial advisors including Standard Life, AJ Bell and Monzo.
Peter Hargreaves to step down from Hargreaves Lansdown board (Financial Times)
Gold tops $4,000 for first time fuelled by US shutdown (Bloomberg)
Vietnam shares hit record high after FTSE flags upgrade to emerging market status (Reuters)
Did You See?
AJ Bell has urged the government to commit to retaining key pension tax incentives and end speculation over the future of tax-free cash and tax relief.
The wealth manager launched a parliamentary petition on 1 October calling for a public commitment to a “Pension Tax Lock”, pledging not to alter tax-free cash entitlement or pension tax relief for the duration of this Parliament.
The petition has already attracted more than 4,000 signatures and will require 10,000 to trigger a government response.
AJ Bell said a formal commitment would provide much-needed certainty for savers, allowing millions to plan for retirement with confidence.
The firm has long campaigned for a Pension Tax Lock, but the new petition invites customers, advisers, the wider public, and industry stakeholders to back the cause directly.
