The pace of change facing advisers today shows no sign of slowing. From Consumer Duty and ongoing suitability requirements to changes in pensions and inheritance tax, advisers are operating in an environment where tax and regulatory policy developments increasingly shape client conversations and business priorities. Andrew Cullen-Jones, Chief Development Officer at Transact, explains that at the same time, firms are operating in a competitive market where growth is not always easy to achieve.
Many advisers are looking for ways to improve efficiency, strengthen client relationships and create capacity within their businesses, while continuing to deliver good outcomes.
These two challenges are closely connected. Regulatory and legislative change often creates new advice needs and new opportunities to engage with clients. The firms that are best able to respond are typically those with the right technology, processes and platform support behind them.
At Transact, our strategy is focused on making financial planning easier for advisers and their clients. We believe we play an increasingly important role in helping firms balance these demands. Recent changes to the treatment of pensions for inheritance tax purposes provide a good example. For many years, pensions have been regarded as an effective estate planning tool. Yet from April 2027, unused defined contribution pension funds and pension death benefits are due to be included within an individual’s taxable estate, meaning advisers are having to help clients reassess how they structure and pass on wealth.
As a result of the planned pension reforms, alongside the impact of frozen thresholds and long-term growth in household wealth, more families are likely to find themselves affected by inheritance tax than ever before. Our latest Transact Inheritance Tax Index* suggests the number of households potentially liable for inheritance tax could rise from 1.6 million to 5.1 million by 2027. This is a significant change which creates complexity for families but also provides opportunities for advisers to demonstrate real value through the advice they provide.
More households are likely to need help navigating inheritance tax, pensions, gifting and intergenerational planning, given that tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may change. For advice firms, this presents not just an opportunity to deepen relationships with existing clients and their broader family but, importantly, a significant opportunity to engage with families who may not previously have received advice.
Trusts and investment bonds are becoming increasingly important as part of these conversations. Bonds can be used as part of estate structuring and gifting strategies, including within trusts, and can offer tax deferral and administrative simplicity. Trusts, meanwhile, can provide control over how and when beneficiaries receive assets, which is particularly valuable for younger beneficiaries or more complex family circumstances.
This is where having a platform that can offer both breadth and flexibility in terms of its proposition is important. Advisers need access to pensions, onshore and offshore bonds, trust structures, technical support and administrative functionality in one place. At Transact, we have already seen advisers accelerate their use of bonds and trust-based strategies for some of their clients as they prepare them for the 2027 changes. Our recently launched Flexible Reversionary Trust was developed in response to that demand, giving advisers another option for clients who want to gift wealth while retaining a degree of flexibility and access.
As complexity of planning grows, efficiency also becomes increasingly important. Whether firms are evidencing good outcomes under Consumer Duty or managing increasing levels of documentation to evidence suitability, obligations continue to consume time and resources.
Platforms, like Transact, can help address this challenge by reducing operational friction. Technology integrations, automated workflows and streamlined processes allow advisers to spend less time on administration and more time engaging with clients. Eliminating duplicate data entry, reducing re-keying and improving connectivity between systems can collectively have a significant impact on productivity and profitability, as well as creating capacity.
Advisers who spend less time navigating administrative processes have more time to focus on delivering advice, developing client relationships and identifying new opportunities for growth. That is why integration is becoming such an important part of the platform proposition. Platforms can no longer operate as standalone systems, separate from the rest of an adviser’s technology stack. They need to sit within the adviser’s wider technology ecosystem, connecting effectively with the software firms already use to manage clients, workflows, reporting and advice processes.
At Transact, we have made significant investment in our integration strategy, which we see as pivotal to providing both access to data and, in future, an ability to accept instructions from third-party software. The aim is to make the platform easier to work with, reduce duplication and give firms greater flexibility in how they run their businesses.
Technology will continue to play a growing role in achieving this balance. Artificial intelligence has significantly changed how firms operate, with potential applications across administration, information gathering and workflow management, which help improve efficiency and support better decision-making. However, advice remains fundamentally a people business. Human judgement and accountability will remain essential, particularly in a regulated environment where client outcomes must always come first.
Alongside innovation, transparency is another important consideration. Advisers are rightly scrutinising how platforms generate revenue and whether charging structures are aligned with client interests. In particular, the treatment of client cash has attracted greater attention in recent years. Platforms that rely heavily on retaining cash interest as a profit driver may face questions about the sustainability of their business model, particularly as interest rate environments change. Advisers conducting platform due diligence should consider functionality and service, as well as financial strength, stability and the transparency of the platform’s revenue model.
Looking ahead, the role of platforms will continue to evolve beyond administration and custody. The most successful platforms will be those that help advisers adapt quickly to regulatory change, provide access to a broad range of planning solutions, improve operational efficiency and maintain the transparency that advisers and clients increasingly expect. Above all, platforms will need to make financial planning easier by fitting naturally into advisers’ existing systems, rather than adding another layer of complexity.
*The Transact Inheritance Tax (IHT) Index monitors changes in British household wealth (2006 to 2022) using data sourced by Trajectory from the Office for National Statistics’ Wealth and Assets Survey. Liability threshold definition: Any household with total wealth (inc. pension wealth) at £1 million or higher.
About Andrew Cullen-Jones
Andrew joined Transact 18 months ago and now serves as Chief Development Officer, responsible for sales, marketing, operations and change.
Prior to joining Transact, Andrew worked at St. James’s Place in a variety of roles, progressing from Business Development to Chief of Staff and Director of Public Policy, before later leading operational areas including advice policy, technical support, business assurance, complaints and advice technology.
He began his career at Friends Provident, where he qualified as an actuary and worked across international markets with teams in the Isle of Man, London, Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai.
