How AI can free up financial advisers to actually advise, guest blog by Legado CEO and founder Josif Grace

One of the more interesting numbers in the FCA’s latest survey of financial advisers is not that the UK has around 31,000 advisers, it’s that the number has barely moved while authorised advice firms have fallen by 15 per cent since 2021.

Advisers aren’t disappearing, instead firms are consolidating around them, and the market is changing faster than the headcount suggests.

Regulated advice still reaches a relatively small slice of consumers. The FCA is opening up models such as targeted support, while firms face growing pressure to serve more people efficiently without compromising customer experience or regulatory standards.

That is where the AI debate gets interesting. It is tempting to assume greater automation ultimately means fewer people. I don’t think that’s what’s happening, at least not yet.

Our partner FNZ recently published research covering 500 financial institutions across 16 markets, with nearly three-quarters expecting AI to produce a step-change in human productivity. Where firms are already using it, applications are mostly mundane: meeting summaries, updating records and planning.

Too much of an adviser’s week still has little to do with giving advice. Moving information between systems, chasing signatures, uploading documents and producing evidence is necessary, but it isn’t why clients choose an adviser.

Strip that out and you’re not removing the adviser. You’re giving them more time to do their job.

You can see that thinking across the market. Aviva has brought its Bed and Pension journey entirely onto its platform, removing external transfers and rekeying. Quilter has moved more servicing and applications into straight-through digital processes, in some cases cutting five days or more from the journey.

It is notable that Aviva and Quilter were comfortably the two most recommended adviser platforms by value last year, according to Defaqto. Both continue investing in making everyday adviser journeys easier.

The bigger question is how these improvements fit together. A new piece of technology can solve one problem brilliantly while creating another hand-off elsewhere.

The firms getting this right will think about the whole journey - what sits on the platform, what connects into it and whether each addition genuinely removes work rather than simply moving it around.

We have learned that through our relationship with FNZ. Legado is integrated into its wider ecosystem and works across several clients, allowing us to build on experience rather than treat every deployment as an isolated technology project. Our partnership with Amiqus follows similar logic - identity and AML, communications and e-signing are individually useful, but considerably more valuable when part of the same journey.

Perhaps the clearest sign of change is who’s in the room - we’re increasingly talking directly to CEOs and leadership teams, not just IT or operations.

Once the conversation encompasses adviser capacity, cost-to-serve, customer experience and regulatory risk, technology becomes a business decision. The firms that come out ahead will be those where the technology is largely invisible, removing friction and giving advisers more time with clients.

The future of financial advice will undoubtedly be more digital. If we get it right, it should also be more human.