Three themes on your radar for 2026

I am pretty sure a grand total of zero 'look ahead' articles in 2024 or 2025 managed to avoid mentioning AI, and I’m not about to buck that trend. In our State of the Advice Nation study over the past couple of years, AI usage has doubled each year, and this year most firms are using it in some way.

Right now, this is usually confined to automating labour intensive tasks like taking meeting notes or handling small workflow actions. But there are pockets of more exploratory use, such as interrogating adviser supplied information and producing client ready documents.

The implication for the sector is clear. Most advised clients’ data is now moving through AI tools somewhere in the process. The rapid adoption has not mirrored any other part of firms’ technology stacks, creating a situation where usage is accelerating faster than the shared standards or signposts that usually help firms travel safely.

There are echoes here of the rise in ESG usage years ago, when industry standards and regulation only caught up once the practice was already widespread. It is sensible then for firms to set clear policies on what AI can and cannot be used for, and to map out exactly how client data is stored, processed and protected. After all, if even one of the 14 tools advisers told us they use for meeting notes or transcription were to fold or be acquired, firms need to know what happens next.

AI is here to stay. This is not about avoiding its use. There are many benefits, but firms still need to make sure the route through the technology landscape is safe for clients. AI can reduce friction, but not if it introduces hidden risks further along the path. Even something as apparently simple as meeting transcripts, while seemingly low risk on its own, could end up feeding into more sensitive processes such as assessing client needs or identifying vulnerabilities.

Demand for advice has arguably never been higher, but the shape of that demand continues to evolve. Throughout our research with advice professionals this year, we have seen rising interest in very specific services, particularly probate planning, wills, estates and tax optimisation.

Those sit firmly in, for want of a better term, the traditional advice landscape. Over the past decade though, the market has been moving away from product selection and investment construction toward outsourcing more of those elements to focus on what is often called modern financial planning.

Yet with previously unfashionable products like bond wrappers and annuities becoming relevant again, the balance between these service types is shifting. The landscape is evening out. As a result, there is a strong opportunity for product providers to show how their offerings have evolved and how they fit the needs of modern planning.