As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to reshape the financial planning profession, global research by the Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB) explores how financial planning professionals are adopting and using AI and its impact on the delivery of financial advice.
Conducted in partnership with its global network of organisations, the 2026 research surveyed more than 8,000 financial planning professionals worldwide to examine how AI is transforming professional practice, improving efficiency, shaping client relationships and influencing the future of financial planning.
Key findings
FPSB’s Impact of AI on Financial Planning global research 2026 found:
- Adoption has passed the tipping point: Eight in 10 financial planners report their firm is using AI or plans to do so within the next 12 months, up from 6 in 10 in 2025.
- Efficiency and capacity gains: Nine in 10 (93%) financial planners say AI has improved their overall work efficiency, leading to increased operational efficiency (52%) and the ability to serve more clients (49%).
- Clients are arriving with AI-generated information: Financial planners say their clients are using AI for general financial education (33%) and to validate or compare professional advice (25%). The
most common effect on the client relationship: an increased need for the financial planner to contextualize or correct AI-generated information that clients share (21%). - Harnessing AI’s potential: 83% of financial planners say AI will help them better serve clients and 75% say it will improve the quality of advice, up from 60% – one of the largest year-on-year movements in the study.
- Lower cost and increased access: Seven in 10 financial planners expect AI to increase access to financial planning for underserved populations (up from 6 in 10 in 2025). 68% of financial planners say it will lower the cost of advice (up from 59%).
