The Morning Briefing: ‘Resilient’ UK economy grows by 0.1%; Finli adds £269m AUM
Good morning and welcome to your Morning Briefing for Thursday 16 July 2026. To get this in your inbox every morning click here.
‘Resilient’ UK economy grows by 0.1%
Experts have reacted with surprise after the ‘resilient’ UK economy defied expectations with 0.1% growth in May.
However, they have warned that it is unlikely to be enough to pave the way for interest rates to be cut.
May’s growth provided a welcome boost following a 0.1% decline in April.
Finli adds £269m AUM
Financial planning business Finli Group has completed seven acquisitions in the second quarter of 2026, adding £269m in assets under management (AUM).
This follows the acquisition of four firms and two client banks in Q1, taking Finli’s total acquisitions in the first half of the year to 13.
These have together added more than £500m in AUM, bringing the group’s total to over £8.7bn.
Quote Of The Day
While frozen tax bands are squeezing the nation’s pay packets until the pips squeak, they are a lucrative source of income for the government – one it can ill afford to lose
– Laura Suter, director of personal finance at AJ Bell, comments on the latest income tax liability statistics
Stat Attack
Political uncertainty is influencing how UK retail investors position their portfolios, according to IG’s latest biannual Client Sentiment Study. It shows:
23%
Almost one in four said they have changed their investment allocation as a result.
42%
Among those who have repositioned, over four in ten have shifted investments from UK markets into international markets.
19%
Meanwhile, nearly a fifth have increased their cash holdings.
61%
More than six in ten investors now cite domestic political uncertainty as a key risk to their portfolios – up 11 percentage points from just six months ago.
78%
Over three quarters believe ongoing political uncertainty will negatively affect UK stock market performance or increase volatility over the coming months.
Source: IG
In Other News
Sarasin & Partners has appointed two new partners in the business.
Tom Lindsey joins the partnership from the charities team, while Ben Gilbert has pivoted from the private client team.
Lindsey, who joined Sarasin & Partners in 2017, manages multi-asset portfolios on behalf of charities, endowments and not-for-profit institutions, drawing on more than 15 years of investment experience across multi-asset and absolute return portfolios.
Gilbert, who joined the firm in January 2019, is responsible for managing its model portfolio service (MPS) and suite of managed funds, as well as portfolios on behalf of UK private clients and professional intermediaries.
Sarasin & Partners’ charities team oversees investment portfolios for a diverse array of educational, medical, religious and grant-making charities.
Its private client business offers tailored and flexible investment solutions to suit a wide range of client types.
LV= has reported another record year for protection claims, paying nearly £152m to claimants in 2025 – an increase of almost £15m compared with 2024.
The mutual supported more than 8,000 people and their families, paying 95% of all individual claims across life insurance, critical illness and income protection.
The findings, published in LV’s latest claims report, highlight the role of protection beyond the point of claim.
Members also benefited from a range of value-added services, including LV= Doctor Services, which provides access to six medical support services for policyholders and their immediate families from policy outset.
Vitality has launched a new podcast series with GP and broadcaster Dr Punam Krishan.
The purpose of the podcast is to bring together expert insight, lived experience and practical health advice to help everyone, not just Vitality members, better understand their health and wellbeing.
The series, titled The Good Health Edit, is available exclusively on YouTube and will be released fortnightly on Tuesdays.
It explores some of the health issues people are most commonly navigating, from women’s health and parenting to nutrition, stress and emotional wellbeing.
The first episode, available now, sees Dr Punam speaking directly to the viewer about her own personal experience of receiving a cancer diagnosis.
From Elsewhere
Mahmood set to be named UK chancellor by Burnham (Financial Times)
TSMC posts 77% profit jump for second quarter (Reuters)
Fidelity plans to rebuild gold holdings on long-term bull case (Bloomberg)
Did You See?
The Personal Finance Society (PFS) has confirmed it will use some of its cash reserves to continue to attract new talent into the advice profession.
Last summer, the organisation committed £1m of funding to its three-year Pathway to the Profession initiative, but it has now said it will carry on putting money into the project beyond this time frame.
The first £500,000 of the £1m has included £200,000 to help 500 new entrants begin their Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning.
Each of these has also received free PFS membership.
