of consumers say generative AI has changed how they research.
Gartner, 2026UK financial advice · AI search study
How AI chooses UK financial advisers
Nearly two-thirds of the top 150 UK financial advice firms were invisible in our study. AI repeatedly relied on directories, publishers and commercial rankings to explain financial decisions and assemble firm shortlists.
We asked the questions a real buyer would ask — from “what should I do?” to “which firm should I choose?” — and recorded what AI returned.
Executive summary
Nearly two thirds of the established advisory market was invisible in AI search.
AI visibility is a source-to-selection problem: firms must first inform the answer, then be clear and credible enough to become a named, cited source.
- 93 of 150established firms were neither named nor had their website cited.
- 74 of 76guidance citations used a panel firm’s expertise without naming it.
- 15 of 25selection questions had no single firm recommended by all three AI providers, despite frequent use of adviser websites as sources across the wider study.
Why this matters now
AI search is becoming more important in client decision-making
Buyers increasingly use AI search to research their options, compare firms and decide who to contact.
More than 75% of Google searches are expected to include AI summaries by 2028.
McKinsey, 2025AI searchers are 42% more likely to convert than non-AI traffic.
Adobe Analytics, 2026The 50 questions
The questions buyers ask before choosing an adviser
We tested the questions people ask as they move from understanding a financial need to finding and choosing an adviser.
13 guidance questions
What should I do?
These questions examined how AI explained financial decisions and which sources it used to support the answer.
12 discoverability questions
Who could help me?
These questions measured which established firms AI named or cited when buyers searched for advice.
25 direct firm-selection questions
Which firm should I choose?
Explicit selection tests measured verified candidates, repeatability, sources and how the shortlist changed by buyer need, provider and run.
The credit gap
A firm can inform the answer and remain invisible to the buyer
In the 117 guidance answers, panel-firm websites were cited 76 times. In 74 of those 76, the answer used the firm's expertise without ever naming the firm.
When AI did select firms directly, only 29.7% of selections cited the firm's own website. The rest relied on directories, rankings and reviews. Firms feed the evidence but the buyer never sees them.
What happened when AI was asked to choose
The recommended firms changed from one answer to the next
There was no dependable shortlist. Different platforms, questions and repeated runs produced different firms, and sometimes no firm at all.
The three platforms did not agree
For 15 questions, no firm was recommended by OpenAI, Gemini and Perplexity alike.
AI named no firm at all
Even when asked to choose a firm, 46 answers returned guidance, directories or regulators instead.
Only four had broad visibility
Most firms appeared for one specialist need or in a single answer, rather than across the buyer journey.
Who shaped the answer
AI kept returning to the same five sources.
A study of 150 UK financial advice firms found that AI recommendations were heavily influenced by a small number of third-party pages, including self-authored commercial rankings with no visible methodology.
One of the most frequently cited commercial sources was a self-authored ranking published by a financial-services firm that placed itself first. The page contained no visible selection methodology.
- 01UnbiasedDirectory
168 of 450 answers
- 02MoneyHelperPublic guidance
127 of 450 answers
- 03VouchedForDirectory
118 of 450 answers
- 04FCARegulator
66 of 450 answers
- 05Nephos GroupCommercial content
47 of 450 answers
Firms need evidence AI can retrieve and credible third-party surfaces that can carry their name into the answer.
The full question set
The 50 questions we asked
The study followed the buyer journey from understanding a financial need to finding and choosing a firm. Open any group to see the exact wording.
0113 questions · Understanding the decisionWhat should I do?Questions about costs, pensions, inheritance, divorce and other financial decisions.
View questions
Questions about costs, pensions, inheritance, divorce and other financial decisions.
0212 questions · Finding possible advisersWho could help me?Questions asking AI to identify firms by need, specialism or location.
View questions
Questions asking AI to identify firms by need, specialism or location.
0325 questions · Choosing a firmWhich firm should I choose?Direct tests of which firms AI recommended for a specific buyer need.
View questions
Direct tests of which firms AI recommended for a specific buyer need.
Different needs, different leaders
No firm led every type of question
The firm recommended most often changed with the buyer’s financial need.
Choosing an adviser
The Private OfficeMost often recommended · 14 of 45 AI answersWealth and investing
Evelyn PartnersMost often recommended · 21 of 45 AI answersPensions and retirement
Hargreaves Lansdown Financial AdviceMost often recommended · 6 of 45 AI answersLife events
Evelyn PartnersMost often recommended · 11 of 45 AI answersSelection breadth
Which firms entered more consideration sets
The first 20 national candidates are shown by default. Search covers every national or local candidate and every firm in the 150-firm panel, including firms not selected.
Showing 20 of 303 national candidates.
| Candidate | Selection tier | Families reached | Core | Wealth | Pensions | Life events | Local |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Selected repeatedly across topics | 4 of 4 | 1% | 7% | 0.2% | 3.2% | 2.1% | |
| Selected repeatedly across topics | 4 of 4 | 4.5% | 2.3% | 1.1% | 2.2% | 1.2% | |
| Selected repeatedly across topics | 3 of 4 | 2.5% | 4.3% | 0% | 2.1% | 0.9% | |
| Selected repeatedly across topics | 4 of 4 | 2.4% | 0.6% | 3.7% | 0.8% | 2.5% | |
| Selected across several topics | 2 of 4 | 0.8% | 5.9% | 0% | 0% | 0.2% | |
| Selected across several topics | 2 of 4 | 0% | 0% | 3% | 2.6% | 2% | |
| Selected repeatedly across topics | 3 of 4 | 0.9% | 3.1% | 0% | 1.3% | 3.8% | |
| Selected across several topics | 2 of 4 | 1.5% | 0% | 0% | 3.7% | — | |
| Selected repeatedly across topics | 3 of 4 | 2.6% | 2.3% | 0% | 0.2% | 0.5% | |
| Selected repeatedly across topics | 3 of 4 | 0.2% | 3.6% | 0% | 1.1% | 0.9% | |
| Selected repeatedly across topics | 3 of 4 | 1.2% | 1.9% | 0% | 1.4% | — | |
| Selected for one specialism | 1 of 4 | 0% | 0% | 0% | 4.4% | — | |
| Selected repeatedly across topics | 3 of 4 | 0.4% | 3.3% | 0% | 0.6% | — | |
| Selected repeatedly across topics | 4 of 4 | 1.1% | 1.4% | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2.8% | |
| Selected repeatedly across topics | 3 of 4 | 0.7% | 1.6% | 0% | 1.4% | — | |
| Selected across several topics | 2 of 4 | 0% | 0% | 3% | 0.2% | 0.6% | |
| Selected across several topics | 2 of 4 | 0% | 0% | 2.6% | 0.4% | — | |
| Selected across several topics | 2 of 4 | 2.4% | 0.4% | 0% | 0% | — | |
| Selected for one specialism | 1 of 4 | 2.6% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0.6% | |
| Selected for one specialism | 1 of 4 | 0% | 0% | 2.6% | 0% | — |
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