Toby Larkman, Managing Director, Wealthtime

The last quarter has certainly been eventful. From a personal perspective, I’ve stepped into a new role, moving from Platform Director to Managing Director of Wealthtime to lead the transition into our 10-year partnership with Wipro and GBST. We continue to progress that work and will update you further in due course.

The sector has also seen significant activity over the last three months. Advisers are being asked to juggle more than ever, from shifting regulatory expectations to fast-moving geopolitical risks.

Ongoing regulatory focus

Regulatory announcements in particular have come thick and fast this quarter. At the very end of Q2, the FCA published its consultation paper on targeted support – our Commercial Director Nick French looks at what the proposals could mean for advisers. This was followed in September by a follow-up consultation on potential changes to the Handbook rules to ensure the “targeted support proposals work effectively with existing requirements.”

For advice firms, the key question is whether targeted support represents a genuine opportunity. Much depends on how the regulatory framework evolves, but currently, the challenge of designing customer segments that are broad enough to avoid crossing into personalised advice, yet specific enough to provide real value, looks difficult without significant investment in technology and processes. While that may be worthwhile for large advice firms, networks or financial product providers with access to extensive customer data, it seems unlikely that these proposals will drive a widespread change in typical advice models.

The DWP launched a new Pensions Commission in July to review the pensions system and make recommendations on how retirement outcomes can be improved. This feels like a once-in-a-decade chance for the profession to help influence how reform unfolds. As Nick says in his thoughts on the government’s vision for pensions, “Reforming the pensions landscape will not be easy, but the launch of the new Pensions Commission presents an opportunity for our sector to play a central role in expanding access to advice and improving outcomes.”

As part of her ‘Leeds Reforms’ in July, the Chancellor signalled a renewed push to bring retail investors into the market and promised to cut unnecessary red tape – you can read a summary of the key points here. Regulators have begun this work, announcing plans in August to reduce certification roles under the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR) to ease the regulatory burden on firms, while maintaining consumer protection.

In addition, at the end of September, the FCA said that it is exploring changes to the Consumer Duty framework to “rebalance risk” and “remove disproportionate burdens from wholesale firms”. This includes clarifying requirements for co-manufacturers, updating standards for identifying professional clients, removing non-UK customers from the scope of the Duty and drawing a clearer line on business-to-business activities.

Alongside these proposals, the FCA also stressed that its focus in 2025–26 will be on embedding Consumer Duty effectively, rather than introducing new rules. This means that those closest to the end customer are likely to remain under scrutiny, but hopefully future reforms will genuinely lighten the load for advisers, rather than simply shift the compliance burden from one place to another.

Another area to note is the FCA’s consultation on non-financial misconduct, such as bullying, harassment and violence. This reinforces the regulator’s focus on promoting healthy, inclusive cultures within regulated firms to strengthen trust in financial services. It’s an important reminder that regulatory expectations now go beyond financial conduct to include building safe and well-governed workplaces.

US credibility and market opportunities

On the market front, having eased for a few weeks, US trade tensions with China have flared again. China’s tightening of export controls on rare earth minerals was met with new threats from President Donald Trump of additional 100% tariffs on imports from the country.

It remains to be seen how this latest episode will play out, but the ongoing policy unpredictability from the current US administration has raised questions about its credibility, prompting many investors to look for opportunities elsewhere – my colleagues at Copia Capital consider the attractions of Europe and the UK.

For advisers, ongoing geopolitical and market turbulence can prompt valuable client conversations and reinforce the importance of professional financial advice in helping clients navigate uncertainty.

What’s on at Wealthtime

Our work with Wipro and GBST continues. We’ve spent Q3 reimagining what a platform can be—not just a tool, but a strategic partner. To bring that vision to life, we’re laying strong foundations which are needed to support the functionality and propositional developments and create the market leading platform. 

Alongside the development of these foundations, we’ve also been focussing on enhancing our platform to deliver the functionality advisers need to achieve the best possible outcomes for their clients now. Our short term roadmap includes several new features, such as tiered adviser charging, enhanced digital journeys for Junior SIPP and ISA and the ability to create, amend and cancel regular income instructions from the SIPP wrapper. 

As we continue to navigate regulatory change, market turbulence and the evolving needs of clients, the value of strong partnerships has never been greater. With speculation already building around possible changes in the Autumn Budget at the end of November, Q4 is likely to bring both new challenges and opportunities.

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This article is intended for regulated financial advisers and investment professionals only. Wealthtime does not provide financial advice. This information is not intended as financial advice and should not be interpreted as such.

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