Good morning and welcome to your Morning Briefing for Friday 24 April 2026. To get this in your inbox every morning click here.
Savvy the Squirrel leads £10m industry drive to close UK ‘investing gap’
A heavyweight coalition of 20 financial firms, HM Treasury, and the FCA has launched ‘Invest for the Future,’ a multi-year campaign aimed at converting 10.1 million hesitant savers into investors.
The initiative, fronted by a relatable mascot named ‘Savvy the Squirrel,’ seeks to demystify the markets at a time when FCA data shows 7 million adults are sat on cash piles exceeding £10,000.
Platforum: Why three groups are tightening their grip on platform flows
Three large groups are currently dominating adviser platform flows. This development is not just important for the platforms themselves; it also impacts product providers, wealth managers offering model portfolios and, of course, advice firms.
Platforms have enjoyed super-normal growth rates over the last few decades as advice firms have written steadily larger proportions of their business through platforms..
Quote Of The Day
The government has arguably made a mess of inheritance tax reform. Crackdowns on farmers and business owners proved unpopular and ultimately unworkable, forcing a partial retreat on relief thresholds.
-Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist, Wealth Club
Stat Attack
Data from Santander UK highlights the various methods prospective buyers are adopting to navigate the current British housing market and secure a deposit. These findings reflect a significant shift in how individuals manage their finances and secondary incomes to achieve home ownership, and the stats show:
49%
of aspiring buyers are using side hustles to save for a deposit.
12%
of hustlers earn over £1,000 per month.
64%
of those with a side hustle save most or all of that specific income for their deposit.
77%
believe previous generations had an easier time saving.
70%
of aspiring buyers believe ownership is difficult for young people today.
72%
of prospective buyers still view home ownership as a priority.
19%
mistakenly believe they need a minimum deposit of £50,000.
Source: Santander UK
In Other News
PlannerPal has bolstered its Meeting Notes tool with a new video analysis capability, moving beyond simple transcripts to capture on-screen data from investment presentations and cash flow models.
By extracting structured data from documents shared during visual client meetings, the AI-powered workflow generates “contextually rich” summaries that validate discussions against live CRM data from Iress Xplan and Intelliflo.
The firm claims this holistic approach significantly reduces admin while creating a more robust audit trail for compliance.
CEO Mark Whitcroft noted that while generic note-takers are common, this integration ensures no context is lost when advisers reference charts or portfolio reviews indirectly during the conversation.
Jigsaw Tree and Virtual Operations have launched “Eddie”, an AI-driven income reconciliation service designed to strip out the manual grit from back-office functions.
Targeting a notorious operational bottleneck, the tool automates 75% of the workflow, including bank statement collection and exception management.
Jigsaw Tree estimates firms processing £2m–£5m in commission currently bleed up to £35,000 annually in salary costs on these tasks.
Unlike standalone software, Eddie combines AI speed with human oversight to eliminate key person risk.
By removing fixed-cost barriers through throughput-based pricing, the partnership aims to make enterprise-grade automation accessible for smaller advice practices.
From Elsewhere
Britain’s deficit narrows but fuel duty fall points to Iran war drag (Reuters)
Banks charged sharply different fees for access to Anthropic investment (Financial Times)
UK retail sales rebound as drivers stock up on fuel (Bloomberg UK)
Did You See?
There’s just two weeks to go until MMI Leeds, Money Marketing’s flagship regional conference and a key date in the calendar for UK financial advisers.
The event will take place on Thursday 7 May at the Leeds Marriott Hotel, bringing together advisers, industry experts and commentators for a full day of insight, discussion and professional development.
The 2026 agenda has been designed to help advisers navigate ongoing regulatory change while building practical knowledge that can be applied directly in client work.
