Who are Britain's top 20 financial advisers?

This year, despite the seismic regulatory shift of consumer duty, and the compliance work this entailed, and in spite of - or perhaps because of - the general election, it has been a great year for the majority of Britain's financial advice companies. 

Strong inflows were seen across the board as people started to seek advice ahead of significant changes, such as the messy abolition of the lifetime allowance, and the VAT changes that have pushed up private school fees. 

With such good business growth registered at so many advisory practices, how have the Top 20 list of companies changed year on year?

The very top spot proved secure for Johnston Carmichael Wealth, which has held onto its top-spot title for three years in a row. Similarly, Forvis Mazars and Mercer Private Wealth remained in the top 20 rankings.

But we have seen others bound up the rankings in the annual FT Adviser survey of UK financial advice businesses.

Take FB Wealth Management and Fiscal Engineers, for example. Neither made the Top 100 last year, and are now in the top 20.

Similarly, AAB Wealth, Simpson Wood and EQ Investors are newcomers to the charts.

Others have risen up the rankings, such as Craven Street Wealth, which leaped from 48 in 2023 to second place this year.

All the FT Adviser Top 100 Advisers were named at an informal champagne reception yesterday (September 24), held at the Leonardo Royal Hotel, London City, following our annual flagship Financial Advice Forum. 

As usual, we only rank the top 20; the remaining 80 are listed in alphabetical order. You can find out all the names in the frame on FT Adviser later today, as well as view some photos from the event.

Why is my company not in the FT Adviser Top 100?

To be considered for the initial long list, ISS Market Intelligence takes the amount of new business inflows (gross) over the preceding 12 months based on data from UK-based platforms and discretionary asset managers/managed portfolio service providers. 

This year, the gross new sales threshold was set at £185mn. 

If your firm did not make that amount, it will not have been considered for the long list. 

The shortlist is then created based on a six-point methodology, which takes into account a variety of metrics, including: 

• Client retention
• Whether the firm is chartered or accredited, staff retention and individual accreditations
• How long the firm has been in business
• What is the net sales percentage score.

The full methodology, as usual, will be published at 12 noon today in the full FT Adviser Top 100 report - so do watch this space.

For now, here are the top 20, ranked in order. Well done to everyone!