As we enter our 21st year as a business, we are reflecting on our achievements as well as how the landscape of financial services has changed during the last two decades.
Read an informative Q&A with David and Paul, our co-founders and directors.
When you started the business in 2005, what was your long-term aim (and do you feel you’ve achieved it)?
Our aim has always been to try to make ourselves redundant within the business, and we have failed miserably over the last 20 years to do this. Although we keep trying!
More broadly, we wanted to build a strong, stable, and efficiently run business that is focused on supporting advisers with their clients and delivering independent advice within regulatory guidelines.
Although we are very proud of how far we have come to achieve this aim, we still view the business as a work in progress, and we will continue to evolve and develop it to meet adviser needs.
We believe that as soon as you sit back and believe you have achieved perfection, then a business will start to fail. We have seen this too many times in financial services, so we won’t be resting on our laurels any time soon.
How has the role of a financial planner/adviser changed over the last 21 years?
The financial adviser role hasn’t really changed over the last 20 years – it has always been about assisting clients to plan for personal and financial objectives, adapting plans for life events, financial education, behavioural coaching, and most importantly, giving clients peace of mind.
The regulatory environment, technology, and the way advice is delivered are changing and continue to evolve. For advice businesses, adapting to these shifts and working with them rather than against them is essential.
Following that, how do clients’ needs differ now compared to two decades ago – if at all?
Client needs are now much more complex due to constantly changing legislation and wealth transferring down through families.
With trillions set to pass down between families in the next 20 years, we believe advice will become more important than ever before.
What are the top 3 things you believe IFAs need to work successfully in 2026, and how are you providing them?
In today’s regulatory landscape, efficient processes are essential. We are always evolving our processes to remove as many pinch points as we can that normally make everything more time-consuming than it needs to be.
Next, we’d say access to technology. We launched our adviser platform nearly two years ago to drive efficiency into the business. After refining what we have and listening to what advisers want, we have just signed off another £500,000 spend on enhancements and additions that will be completed over the next six months.
Finally, advisers need consistent education opportunities. There is a lot of change being introduced over the next two years, and clients will be affected. Advisers need to be fully aware of the changes and the related planning scenarios and solutions in order to deliver for their clients.
With the constant focus on firm consolidation and asset grabbing within the sector, many advisers do not have the ability to deliver the solutions required as they don’t meet the consolidators’ aims of building funds under management in their own products and investments.
Our independent advisers have the full range of solutions available to them, and we are ensuring that a lot of education is being delivered for them to use the planning solutions correctly.
What advice would you give a newcomer who wants to be a successful IFA?
A few tried-and-true tips from us:
- Focus on being able to deliver for client needs and providing a good service.
- Make sure you join a firm that is able to deliver an independent range of solutions, rather than shoehorning clients into what the firm allows you to offer in order to meet its own needs rather than the clients’.
- Give yourself the ability to act as an adviser for your client and not a salesperson for a company.
What would you tell an adviser who wants to exit their business in the next five years?
Some quick-fire tips to get you started:
- Start planning early (years, rather than months, ahead).
- Organise your client bank and have good quality data.
On a more complex note, selling your business isn’t always just a financial decision. There’s a deeper choice to make; you need to decide if money is the sole priority for a sale, or whether your clients’ wellbeing comes into the picture when you’re considering offers from other businesses.
If it is the former, then there are several vertically integrated operations that will buy a client book and feed it into their pre-set process, and they will normally offer higher prices – although this is not always in a client’s best interest. Beware the “fish and chip” operators where the headline looks great, but the reality is very different.
If, however, it is the latter and you want your clients to continue receiving the highest level of care, then it makes sense to plan ahead and ideally join a firm you are happy with in advance of exiting. That way, you can settle the clients into the new business and then put an orderly handover in place on exit.
What do you look for when acquiring an advice business?
Most of the businesses we acquire are from advisers already within our group and aligned to our processes and ethos. They have either been with us for a long time, or they have joined with a view to exiting and having the clients looked after.
We generally look for businesses that are client and service-focused, with a low level of high-risk business and good management information.
You’ve just secured £10 million in funding to expand the network even further. What are your plans over the next five years?
The plans haven’t changed, and this fund raise was just part of our ongoing growth plan. We plan to grow our adviser numbers organically, continue to develop our bespoke internal software to support advisers and drive efficiencies, and deliver our internal buy-out solution for advisers.
We have ambitious plans but, unlike other firms, we will not compromise on the core beliefs of the business.
We believe effective financial advice is built on trusted relationships. Advisers and clients are people, not commodities.
Get in touch
To learn more about joining our network, email hello@corbelpartners.co.uk or call 01925 637891.
Please note
This article is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at individuals only.
All information is correct at the time of writing and is subject to change in the future.