Platform and SIPP provider A J Bell has launched a new streamlined platform which the firm claims will help financial advisers implement investment advice for clients more quickly and securely.

A record-breaking 142,000 millionaires are projected to relocate internationally this year, with the UK expected to see the largest net outflow of HNWIs by any country since millionaire migration tracking began 10 years ago.

Tessa Lee, managing director of adviser fintech support firm Moneyinfo, looks at AI lessons she's learned and how planners can begin to unlock the benefits of AI step by step.

I was on a Teams call recently with a prospective client, a conversation full of insight and next steps.

Normally I’d spend an hour replaying notes and writing a follow-up. But this time, I used Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft's AI tool). It transcribed the meeting, summarised key themes, and suggested action points. All I had to do was sense-check and personalise.

This brought it home for me. AI wasn’t about replacing what I do, it was about creating time to focus on the work that matters.

At Moneyinfo, we’ve been exploring how AI can support us right across the business. We’re excited by what it can do – but our eyes are wide open. There’s huge potential, but only if you take the time to build in structure and safeguards.

We didn’t roll AI out to everyone from day one. We started with the management team, testing use cases in a controlled environment. It gave us space to explore what worked, where the risks were, what training the wider team would need.

We looked at each use case carefully, ensuring it lined up with our information security policies. We checked how data would be handled, who could access what, and where the risks might be. If AI was going to be part of how we work, it had to respect our controls, not find ways around them.

AI is great at day-to-day heavy lifting. It helps us summarise meetings, draft content and research, taking pressure off admin and giving the team more space to focus.

But just because you can, doesn’t mean you always should. Some things still need human judgement, empathy and creativity. Our approach is simple. AI supports process but people stay in control of the outcome.

We’ve written an internal AI policy to guide how we use it responsibly. Everyone has training on prompting, reviewing content and understanding where the limitations are.

Nothing client-facing goes out without a human sense-check. We’ve applied the same principles we use for any process or tool; clear oversight, good record-keeping and alignment with our values.

As a SaaS platform, we’re thinking carefully about how AI can support our strategy, helping us build better tools and deliver more value to advice firms and their clients.

We’re exploring where AI might assist our development team with tasks like code review or documentation in future, and how we can build AI features into the product, supporting onboarding, reviews and workflow automation, while keeping the adviser-client relationship at the heart of it.

In client service, AI can help us respond more quickly and consistently, making sure firms get the right support when they need it. As we move forward, trust, privacy and transparency will remain essential.

Practical advice for financial planning and wealth firms

Start with a problem you want to solve. Whether it’s onboarding, meeting prep or admin, AI can help, but only if you’re clear on what you want it to do. Begin somewhere low risk. Summarise internal meetings, review provider updates, or draft team comms. Let people get familiar with how it works before using it with clients.

Put some simple guidelines in place. Write a short policy. Teach the team how to prompt well and sense-check the outputs. It’s quick, but not always right.

And if it still feels unfamiliar, try it at home. Ask it to plan a holiday or help with your to-do list. It’s a pressure-free way to build confidence.

Used well, AI won’t replace planners. But it will help you be more efficient, more focused, and better equipped to deliver the kind of service clients really value.

The firms that take the time to explore it now will be the ones shaping what comes next.

Tessa Lee is managing director of Moneyinfo, a fintech firm based in Warwickshire, specialising in client portals and mobile apps for the wealth management industry. She has more than 20 years’ experience working in financial advice and fintech and holds several CII Financial Planning qualifications.

https://www.moneyinfo.com/

@moneyinfotech 

The Competition and Market Authority has launched a probe into Google to see if it needs to allow publishers greater influence over how their content is used in its search engine.

More Generation Z workers aged 18-24 claim to be knowledgeable about pensions than other generations, but new research reveals they have little understanding of retirement savings.

Adviser platform Transact has partnered with fintech and back office provider Intellifo to launch a data transfer application which it claims will help reduce rekeying, save advisers time and maintain data integrity.

Early retirement and ill health are driving premature exits from the workforce and having a major impact on the UK economy, with an estimated £31bn in lost output annually, according to a new study.

A fraudster who fled to avoid a 14 year jail term has been ordered to repay £64m from the proceeds of his crime or have 14 years added to his sentence.

Manchester-based Chartered Financial Planning firm Suttons Independent Financial Advisors has acquired Bolton-based Whitewell Financial Planning for an undisclosed amount.

Financial coaching is emerging as a key tool in workplace wellbeing strategies as employees seek more personalised support, according to a new report.