Author: Aisha Mahmood

Aberdeen Adviser SIPP growth has reached £1.15 billion in assets under administration less than a year after the product launched, with more than 5,000 accounts opened in that period, according to Money Marketing. For anyone monitoring the self-invested personal pension market, the pace of that accumulation deserves careful consideration.The average client holds over £200,000 within the SIPP, and customers are invested across a mix of models and managed funds. Those figures place this squarely in the retirement-planning segment: not accumulation-phase savers in their thirties, but people who have already built meaningful pension capital and are now managing how it is…

The quality of a financial plan means little if the adviser communication style used to deliver it fails to connect with the person on the other side of the table. That is the central argument Amanda Ford, co-founder of The Financial Planning Club, makes in a piece examining what genuinely personalised client service requires in practice. When one explanation does not fit all Ford draws on Insights Discovery, a framework that describes behavioural and communication preferences through four colour energies: Fiery Red, associated with directness and pace; Sunshine Yellow, with enthusiasm and possibility; Earth Green, with empathy and a focus…

The atomos MWA Financial acquisition, announced as an agreement for an undisclosed sum, brings together two businesses that describe themselves as sharing a common vision for holistic, long-term financial planning. For investors and retirees who rely on regulated advice, the deal raises a practical question: what does consolidation at this scale mean for continuity of service, cost structures, and the quality of planning they receive?What the atomos MWA Financial acquisition means in practiceAt the point of its own acquisition of Hawthorn Financial Services in April 2026, atomos MWA Financial had approximately £950 million in assets under advice and close to…

Adviser fee hikes and client segmentation are becoming standard responses as financial advice practices wrestle with the rising cost of serving clients, according to the latest Financial Advice Business Benchmarks report from NextWealth. The consultant’s survey of 318 financial advice professionals finds that 64% work at firms intending to expand by taking on new clients, while 53% aim to grow assets from existing relationships, an ambition that sits in some tension with the tighter scrutiny practices are placing on ongoing client suitability. Adviser fee hikes and client segmentation: the portfolio management parallel For advisers, segmenting a client book is, in…

The settlement of the trail commission breach of contract case against Jupiter Unit Trust Managers, which Money Marketing reports concluded with a payment of £2,265 on 26 June 2026, is a reminder that contractual rights do not enforce themselves. The question worth asking, for advisers and for the clients whose income arrangements underpin these disputes, is why so few similar cases have ever reached a courtroom.The background is well established. The Retail Distribution Review prohibited commission on new investments and pensions from 1 January 2013. Existing trail commission arrangements were explicitly permitted to continue. A number of institutions subsequently decided…

The extreme heat financial risk that once seemed a distant concern for environmental specialists is now, according to Dr Alejandro Martí, CEO and co-founder of Mitiga Solutions, landing directly on company balance sheets, affecting earnings, credit quality and, ultimately, the returns that UK investors depend upon in retirement.Martí’s firm is a science-first climate-risk intelligence company and a spin-off of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, giving it deep computational roots that inform how it models physical hazards. The question for a portfolio manager or SIPP holder is straightforward: if heat stress is already affecting profit and loss, does your current asset allocation…

Shackleton Advisers has agreed to acquire Aberdein Considine Wealth in a deal that brings the Shackleton AC Wealth acquisition to the centre of Scotland’s consolidating advice market, adding around £800m in assets under management and advice to the firm’s existing book. What the Shackleton AC Wealth acquisition means for Scottish savers The transaction takes Shackleton’s total assets under management and advice in Scotland to more than £1.3bn, a scale that matters for clients assessing the long-term stability of their adviser relationship. AC Wealth, formerly part of Scottish law firm Aberdein Considine, brings 40 employees to the combined business, including 14…

St. James’s Place has confirmed Justin Onuekwusi as investments CEO on a permanent basis, formalising an arrangement that had been in place on an interim footing since January. Onuekwusi now joins the group executive committee and takes full, permanent charge of the Investment Directorate, a division responsible for investment strategy, fund governance, platform innovation and the group’s discretionary fund management activities through SJP Investment Management. Justin Onuekwusi investments CEO: what the role covers The Investment Directorate sits at the heart of SJP’s proposition to clients, and the appointment carries considerable operational weight. Onuekwusi will lead the continued development of the…

Amati Global Investors has strengthened its Amati Global Investors distribution capability with the appointment of Gavin White, formerly head of wholesale and key partnerships at Octopus Investments, to its sales team. The hire follows the earlier arrival of Mark Ingram, who joined from Jupiter Asset Management, and points to a deliberate effort by the Edinburgh-based boutique to build out its intermediary reach. Building a team with complementary networks The two new additions are not strangers. White and Ingram previously worked together at Credit Suisse, and Amati sales director Jon Woolley has his own prior working relationship with White, having been…