The advice gap is growing, adviser numbers are shrinking, the cost of living is increasing, and the people who would benefit most from access to financial advice are the ones who do not necessarily know what financial advice is or how it can benefit them, let alone engage with or afford it.

A growing number of business leaders from large financial institutions are pushing back against internal and external barriers to change in a quest to address the advice gap. In partnership with Ignition Advice, we define the problems these change-makers are trying to address and propose possible solutions for people needing help. Rather than advice, guidance or hybrid as singular possible options to address this need – we are casting our net wide and looking at this holistically.

Methodology

The paper is based on 11 telephone interviews with senior leaders in large financial institutions involved in developing solutions to efficiently help more people who need financial advice to improve their financial wellbeing. These interviewees also attended a roundtable discussion with a further 10 representatives from financial institutions and consultancies. They are referred to as ‘contributors’ throughout the paper and we are grateful for their time and input.

The purpose of this paper

• Set out the challenge by identifying potential solutions as well as the barriers to provide as many people as possible with access to advice.
• Define approaches taken by large financial institutions to helping people who need help across investments, pensions and protection.

We believe that large organisations are well placed to support people who need help. They have access to large numbers of customers and budgets to invest in technology, people and processes to find solutions to support people who otherwise might struggle to find help or who may not even know they need help.

You can download the report for free here.