The Morning Briefing: Fairstone adds £183m with acquisitions; An end to co-manufacturing confusion
Good morning and welcome to your Morning Briefing for Friday 17 July 2026. To get this in your inbox every morning click here.
Fairstone adds £183m with North East acquisitions
Fairstone has acquired two North East financial advice firms with combined client assets under management of £183m.
The wealth management group has bought Sunderland-based Grainger Financial Planning and Riverstone Wealth Management, which is based in Morpeth, Northumberland.
The two firms advise more than 460 clients between them and first joined Fairstone’s Downstream Buy Out programme in May 2024.
threesixty: Co-manufacturing – an end to the confusion?
In CP26/23: Consumer Duty – scope and proportionality, published on 29 June 2026, the FCA has set out proposed new rules on co-manufacturing, writes Vanessa Johnson, head of compliance strategy at threesixty services.
The FCA’s approach to co-manufacturing has long generated uncertainty across the advice and investment management market since the term was first coined in 2022.
At the heart of the issue lay a fundamental problem: there was no formal FCA definition of ‘co-manufacturing’.
Quote Of The Day
Here was a Labour leader who promised to cut the deficit every year, balance the books, and refuse to present a Budget without OBR sign-off
– Michael Browne, global investment strategist at Franklin Templeton, on why Ed Miliband could surprise people if he became chancellor
Stat Attack
LHV Bank, in partnership with Censuswide, surveyed more than 2,000 UK adults about their savings habits and awareness of interest rates.
It found that many savers regularly monitor their money but remain unsure whether their accounts offer competitive returns.
53%
of UK savers are not confident they are receiving a competitive interest rate.
95%
regularly check their savings balance, suggesting most savers remain actively engaged with their accounts.
69%
know where all their savings are held, despite often lacking awareness of the rates they receive.
£1,848
is the estimated five-year difference between the returns on £20,000 held in the average easy-access account and the same amount earning a leading rate.
Source: LHV Bank
In Other News
HLPartnership has announced a proposed leadership transition, with Chris Tanner preparing to step back from day-to-day executive duties.
Tanner has led the mortgage and protection network as it expanded to support nearly 600 member firms and 1,200 advisers, with annual lending volumes approaching £14bn.
He will remain involved as a board adviser at HLP parent company Josewin, providing strategic support and drawing on his industry relationships and knowledge of the network.
Rudi Botha, chief executive of BetterHome Group, is expected to take over HLP’s leadership, subject to regulatory approval. BetterHome Group made a strategic investment in the network in 2024.
HLP said its existing governance and management arrangements would remain in place until the approval process was completed, with no immediate changes for members, advisers or partners.
Botha said his priorities would include investment in technology, data, adviser support, proposition development and partnerships across the mortgage and protection market.
The Association of Financial Mutuals has called for reform of the Public Interest Entity regime, warning that smaller mutuals face disproportionate audit and compliance costs.
The recommendation forms part of AFM’s new strategy, Closing the Gaps: Building Financial Resilience, which sets out measures intended to support growth in the mutual sector.
AFM said the current regime captures smaller organisations that are not systemically significant, diverting resources from investment, member services and innovation.
Chief executive Andrew Whyte said: “We support strong audit and governance, but the framework must be proportionate and targeted at those firms that truly warrant this level of scrutiny.”
The association also wants mutuals to be able to raise external capital without risking their tax status.
Other proposals include modernising Friendly Society legislation, improving assessments of how regulatory changes affect mutuals and providing greater clarity on product bundling and cross-selling.
AFM said the reforms would support the Government’s commitment to double the size of the mutual and co-operative sector.
From Elsewhere
IMF warns Burnham against higher public spending (The Telegraph)
SpaceX post-listing collapse threatens IPO market’s AI euphoria (Bloomberg)
China disapproves of British Steel nationalisation decision by UK (Reuters)
Did You See?
I attended the publication event of the FCA’s Mills Review, writes Chris Davies, founder and director of Model Office.
This marks one of the most significant milestones in the FCA’s AI strategy for retail financial services.
Rather than asking whether AI should be adopted, the Review asks a far more important question: how can innovation accelerate while maintaining and protecting consumer trust, market integrity and effective supervision?
The Review reinforces that AI is no longer simply an enabling tool. It is becoming part of firms’ operating models, customer journeys and governance frameworks.
Equally, it recognises that regulators themselves will increasingly need AI capabilities to supervise firms operating at machine speed.
