What Australian advisers can learn from their UK counterparts about AI and client relationships

AI can support advisers rather than compete with them, according to a 2026 Netwealth IQ report that found digital tools and AI are automating repetitive tasks but also supporting deeper understanding, surfacing meaningful signals and introducing structures that improve the quality of decisions. 

According to Modern Advice Built on Legacy: Insights from the 2026 Netwealth Study Tour, advice firms don’t need to complete a widespread digital transformation before using AI. They can start small, injecting AI incrementally into certain processes. 

AI can support different areas and it can tailor communications to client personas, delivering personalised, scalable content at a fraction of the cost while maintaining consistent branding and compliance through CRM-integrated sense-checks. The report finds this provides a safety net for less experienced staff and frees principals’ time as it does not require quality control. 

Human skills that matter include empathy, curiosity, communication and a coaching mindset, which take practice, mentoring and feedback.  

“Technology can support this. Where AI is used for note-taking, junior team members can observe more closely, using sentiment analysis and structured debriefs. With client consent, recording review meetings can further accelerate development,” the report says. 

Once the firm has a better understanding of the AI tools and is ready to move further, one way the report suggests its use is to monitor occasions where clients have ignored the advice given and drill into the innate behavioural traits behind that decision. By logging this on an ongoing basis, firms will then be able to use AI tools to identify emerging patterns where a more focused conversation could have taken place. 

How teams are designed may require a rethink that considers how technology changes what needs to be done and how – not why. 

Legacy hierarchy systems will stay in the past 

The report expects UK firms to change to a team-based structure as opposed to the standard hierarchical form of a principal at the top. This makes firms less reliant on key individuals for end-to-end service. Roles are evolving, according to the report, to include “behavioural-focused advisers; relationship managers who may not advise; heads of operations; talent leads; tech or automation specialists; and content or social media experts to help shape a firm’s voice”. 

The report shares an example of a firm that increased its revenue tenfold by delineating “the business” from “the clients”, blending psychometry-based hiring and a people-first culture with sharp commercial ambition. 

With research showing intergenerational wealth transfer often means beneficiaries switch advisers but they will stay if a relationship is built early, holding on to them is about advisers being empathetic, personalised, digitally competent and true to their values. 

With up to five generations working in some firms, the advice gap can be addressed by making use of the different perspectives, and considering what appeals to each generation and where each one goes for information. Using the appropriate channels for scalable education and a natural filter attracts more engaged and informed clients. 

On the issue of scalability, the report shared the case of Perspective Financial where oversight, consistency and cost control were improved by core infrastructure and a streamlined technology stack. “With centralised compliance and operations, advisers are free to focus on client relationships, while firms maintain regulatory standards across the group.” 

Why this is relevant 

As the UK has gone through a similar reform path to Australia, with its Retail Distribution Review echoing Australia’s Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) changes, the findings may help local advisers to plan their path forward. 

Firms with well-defined propositions, appropriate target clients, fair pricing and efficient processes that work with the regulator rather than against it, may be better placed to help more people become financially resilient while building sustainable, profitable businesses, according to the report. 

Diversifying remains important, as does issuing tactical communications to remind clients about different tools’ roles in a diversified strategy, and explaining how adding or removing different assets can impact the client’s portfolio.  

Ultimately, the report finds that the firms that may be best positioned for what’s coming aren’t the biggest or the most digital but the most deliberate in who they serve, what they charge, how they invest and why they exist, and willing to modernise on their own terms rather than the market’s.