Donald Reid

You've got one-off fees.

If you then start to consolidate and you execute well, then you can drive out significant cost savings, particularly in terms of some of the larger firms.

But also you've

got the opportunity to go for what's known as vertical integration, because a lot of those standalone IFA businesses are just providing financial advice.

As you bring those together, what some firms are then doing is, well, how can we actually also own the investment solution?

Because that then increases profitability.

And we can be a one-stop shop to those clients.

And again, PE find that quite interesting as well.

So the number of examples where that's happened.

And then you've also got firms that are either publicly listed, privately owned, who are acquiring.

So Rathbones have been quite active on that front.

They're publicly listed.

listed.

Brooks McDonald is another one.

But then the trends that we're seeing this year is that there's been a massive amount of private equity interest in professional services firms.

And we're now seeing professional services firms also starting to buy IFAs.

So firms like Cooper Parry, AAB, K3, they've all been on the acquisition trail.

They're at the end of

professional services firms, they are now building a financial planning capability to what they do.

And that has logic because if you're advising firms or you're advising clients through an acquisition or sale process, and then the principals receive the proceeds from that sale, SME businesses, I'm thinking, and then if you can then introduce them to your financial planning arm, then you can retain that relationship and add to that relationship.