The independent financial advice (IFA) industry is seeing an accelerating rate of consolidation, according to a report from Heligan Corporate Finance.
Heligan found that between 2020 to 2025, the UK IFA sector experienced ‘sustained’ consolidation as larger advice and wealth firms continued to acquire smaller peers.
The UK IFA M&A Update report also noted the pace of deal making is rising fast, with 50 deals in 2020, climbing to over 115 deals in 2022 and reaching a peak of 133 deals in 2025, nearly tripling in five years.
Heligan said ‘well-capitalised buyers’, particularly those backed by private equity-backed or vertically integrated wealth advisers, have played an increasingly significant role in the consolidation.
Despite this, the market remains highly fragmented, Heligan noted, with thousands of owner-managed practices still running across the UK.
This means the industry is still ‘well suited to buy-and-build acquisition strategies’.
Heligan said the rise in dealmaking is underpinned by structural factors, including the many advisers approaching retirement age, and rising regulatory, compliance and technology costs.
The report also identified a large American role in the trend, with US-backed firms estimated to represent approximately £222bn of assets under management now, compared with about £165bn for UK-backed platforms.
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Geographically, activity has been concentrated in established wealth centres such as London and the South East, but activity in the Midlands and parts of Scotland, from 2023 onwards shows broader geographic dispersion of transactions across the UK,
There has also been increased activity in parts of Wales, northern England and the South West more recently, and the emergence of regional clusters around major cities such as Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow.
Greg Easter, partner at Heligan Corporate Finance, said: “Private equity investment and regulatory change have driven consolidation in recent years, and the market shows little signs of slowing as US investors continue deploying capital into larger wealth platforms.
“In 2020, PE-backed buyers accounted for around 42% of transactions, but by 2025 this had risen to 75% of deals.
“This trend highlights the increasing role of institutional capital in driving consolidation across the UK wealth sector.
“Private equity-backed platforms benefit from access to significant capital and pursue buy-and-build strategies, acquiring multiple advisory firms to rapidly scale assets under management and distribution capabilities,” he added.