Growth ambitions are outpacing the servicing models behind them
This is article 2 in our 6-part series which explores the operational challenges shaping growth for wealth management firms across the UK. Developed from our work alongside ambitious firms, it brings together key themes, pressures, and priorities we’re seeing across the market.
Business growth rarely fits neatly into how a firm already works. More often, it brings additional systems, added processes, and different ways of working across the same business that don’t always line up.
This isn’t an isolated issue. It’s becoming a familiar pattern across the advice and wealth management market. The FCA said in October 2025 that it had seen an increase in consolidation through acquisitions in recent years¹, and SEI research found that the first quarter of 2025 saw a strong start of 35 deals, with 77% of UK wealth managers actively intending to acquire during the year.² Evidently, more firms are having to work harder to keep client servicing consistent as the business grows.
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Growth adds pressure before it creates alignment
A newly acquired business will likely have its own servicing model. A newly hired adviser may be used to different workflows, approval routes, and communication habits. Each of those approaches may work well on its own. The difficulty comes when they all need to operate within one firm, under one set of standards.
This is where things start to slow down. SEI’s productivity research found that relationship managers spend just 43% of their time on activities that add value to the company, with the majority of their time lost to administration. The same research found that productivity tends to worsen as firms get larger, suggesting that scale without enough structure creates coordination challenges, and more friction.³
Why integration becomes harder over time
As firms grow, different ways of working often remain in place longer than intended.
Teams may follow different onboarding journeys, use different routes for sharing documents, or manage client communication in different ways. That makes it harder to deliver a consistent service model across the business.
As those differences build, more of the responsibility falls to operations teams to create alignment through manual checks, process workarounds, and closer oversight.
This is not just an operational inconvenience. FE fundinfo research, reported by IFA Magazine, found that 67% of advisers say more than 10% of their firm’s costs come from inefficient technology and manual processes.⁴ When growth adds more systems, more variation and more handoffs, those inefficiencies can become harder to control.
That challenge is reflected in wider market research. A PIMFA WealthTech and EY report found that 90% of wealth managers raise data quality as an issue.⁵ These data quality problems are often a symptom of fragmented systems, inconsistent processes, and information being handled differently across the business.
The same report found that around 40% of clients believe managing their wealth has become more complicated in the past two years. This is often the result of too much variation behind the scenes, making it harder to deliver a consistent client experience.
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The cost is not just internal
The risk is what happens next. Demand isn’t slowing, but adviser capacity is under pressure.
NextWealth found that 46% of financial advisers are working with more clients than the previous year, while adviser supply falls short against a much larger number of people seeking advice.⁶ That makes consistency critical. Firms need to grow in a controlled way rather than stretching servicing models beyond their limits.
What a more joined up model looks like
Most firms are not looking for a full reset. A more practical goal is to create greater consistency around client engagement without forcing immediate replacement of every existing system.
That means bringing communication, document sharing and key client journeys into a comprehensive digital layer. Not as a substitute for the wider technology stack, but as a way to make the servicing model more repeatable across the growing business.
The benefit is not only efficiency, but control. Newly integrated firms can work within a more consistent structure, and operations teams can maintain clearer oversight without relying so heavily on manual coordination.
A stronger proof point
Hymans Robertson offers a strong example of what this looks like in practice. As a Moneyinfo client, their focus wasn’t just growth in client numbers, but doing so in a way that stayed efficient, repeatable and manageable.
With more than 1,200 clients, they needed a model that could handle volume without creating more chasing, more admin, or more pressure behind the scenes.
Dan McMahon, Head of Technology and Innovation at Hymans Robertson Personal Wealth, comments:
“We have found that once workflow is started by a client, 95% of them complete the entire journey without any chasing from our team. Freeing up our team’s time for coaching our clients rather than chasing them.”
This shows that a more controlled process can support growth by reducing manual follow ups and giving the team more time to focus on higher value client activity.
Is your firm expanding through organic growth, acquisitions, or a combination of both?
Then join our webinar on Friday, 22nd May, 10:00 - 6 Operational challenges Wealth Managers can’t ignore.
It is a practical way to step back and see where pressure is building across the business. We’ll look at six common problem areas that often lead to inefficiency, inconsistent service, and growing compliance strain. If even one sounds familiar, this session will help you see what’s really going on and where to focus next.
This is article 2 in our 6-part series, which explores the operational challenges shaping growth for wealth management firms across the UK. Developed from our conversations with forward-thinking firms, it brings together key themes, pressures, and priorities we’re seeing across the market.
See the full showcase and read more about the webinar on our dedicated page here.
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³ https://www.seic.com/sites/default/files/2024-05/SEI%20Productivity%20Research%20paper.pdf
⁴ https://www.fefundinfo.com/insights/5-key-insights-from-the-2025-financial-adviser-survey-every-ifa-should-know
⁵ https://www.pimfawealthtech.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/PIMFA-WealthTech-and-EY-Report.pdf