The market

Market commentary in this sector usually arrives from someone with a stake in the answer. This guide takes a deliberately narrow approach: aggregate figures from published sources, no buyer names anywhere on the site, and no view about who you ought to sell to. What follows is what the numbers say about activity, who is buying in broad categories, and how the regulator's attention has changed the picture for sellers.

Activity has risen. EY reported UK wealth and asset management deal volume increasing from 47 transactions in the first half of 2025 to 61 in the first half of 2026, with disclosed deal value moving from £0.2bn to £22.7bn over the same comparison. The change in volume is modest; the change in value is not, and it reflects a small number of very large transactions rather than a step change in what an ordinary firm is worth. Aggregate value tells you about the top of the market. Volume tells you about yours.

Buyers fall into broad categories rather than a single type. There are nationally operating acquirers building scale through repeated purchases onto a common proposition, private equity backed groups doing much the same with an exit of their own in mind, regional and local firms buying a book that sits comfortably alongside their existing clients, and individual advisers or small partnerships buying a retiring adviser's clients outright. Each category values different things, pays in a different shape, and asks for a different amount of your time after completion.

The regulator has become part of the market story. The FCA published its multi-firm review of consolidation in the financial advice and wealth management sector on Fri 31st Oct 2025, examining how acquiring firms handle the risks that consolidation creates for clients. For a seller that matters in a practical way: buyers are more careful about what they take on, diligence has become more searching, and the quality of your files and your client outcomes now affects whether you are saleable rather than only what you are worth.

Nothing here is a forecast. Deal conditions change, and a number that held for the first half of a year is not a promise about the second. The articles below set out what the published figures cover, what they leave out, and how to read the commentary around them.