The AI Revolution in Financial Advice: Australian Practices Leading Global Adoption

The financial advice profession is experiencing a seismic shift as artificial intelligence transforms how advisers serve clients and manage their practices. New data from the 2025 Australian Financial Advice Landscape Report (AFLR) reveals Australian practices are at the forefront of this technological revolution, with adoption rates surpassing global averages and dramatically accelerating from previous years.

Australia's AI Adoption Surge

The most recent AFLR data showcases a significant leap in AI adoption within Australian advice practices. A staggering 74% of these practices are either actively using or planning to use AI, a remarkable increase from the 45% reported in 2024. Even more impressive, 59% of these practices have already integrated AI solutions, with an additional 15% in the planning stages.

This rapid growth in adoption surpasses the global average, as revealed in the Financial Planning Standards Board's (FPSB) worldwide survey of over 6,200 financial planners across 24 territories. It found that 64% of financial planning firms globally use AI or plan to implement it within the next 12 months.

"We are witnessing a pivotal moment in the financial planning profession as planners embrace AI to work smarter, allowing more time to engage in deeper human connection with clients," notes FPSB CEO Dante De Gori, CFP, in the organisation's recently released global research report.

It is worth noting that ASIC's October 2024 report, "Beware the gap: Governance arrangements in the face of AI innovation", raises significant concerns about how financial services licensees manage their AI adoption. The regulator examined 624 AI use cases across 23 licensees and found that while AI adoption is accelerating rapidly (57% of use cases were less than two years old or in development), governance arrangements are struggling to keep pace.

However, ASIC Chair Joseph Longo warns that "there is a real risk that such gaps widen as AI use accelerates and this magnifies the potential for consumer harm." The report found that only 12 of 23 licensees had policies addressing fairness and bias in their AI systems, and only 10 had guidance regarding disclosing AI use to consumers.

From Resistance to Rapid Adoption

The evolution of AI in financial advice has been remarkable. Just one year ago, 38% of Australian advice practices reported no plans to use AI. Today, that number has plummeted to just 13%, signalling a dramatic shift in attitudes toward this technology.

This transformation mirrors global trends, with the FPSB research showing that 50% of financial planners worldwide now have a positive outlook on AI, while only 8% view it negatively.

Practical Applications Transforming Advice Delivery

What's driving this rapid adoption? The data shows AI is proving its value in specific, high-impact areas of practice management:

File notes and meeting documentation lead the way, with 86% of Australian practices using AI to streamline these traditionally time-consuming tasks. This aligns with global findings showing that client-focused applications dominate AI usage.

The Australian report revealed other key applications, including:

- Client engagement tools such as newsletter production (53%)
- Marketing (48%)
- Statement of Advice (SOA) or Record of Advice (ROA) production (46%)

Globally, the FPSB research found similar patterns with client communications (41%), client data collection (33%), and client risk profiling (30%) leading the way.

"This technology is not just reshaping the practice of financial planning but may also open doors for those who have historically lacked access to critical financial services," explains De Gori, highlighting how AI is addressing the profession's long-standing challenge of accessibility.

ASIC identified several common AI applications, including client engagement tools, cash flow forecasting, budgeting tools, and tools predicting product reward offers likely to interest clients. More forward-looking uses included generative AI to summarise client complaints and optimise client-facing apps based on behaviour patterns.

The Tools Powering This Revolution

ChatGPT remains the dominant AI platform among Australian practitioners, used by 49% of practices, followed by Microsoft Co-Pilot (39%). However, only 36% of practices pay for enterprise access or other paid versions of these AI tools, suggesting significant room for deeper integration of professional-grade AI solutions.

This relatively low rate of paid adoption may reflect lingering concerns about AI. The FPSB research identified data privacy and cybersecurity (47%) and concerns about the accuracy and reliability of AI outputs (42%) as the top reservations among financial planners globally.

Bridging the Advice Gap

One of the most promising aspects of AI adoption in financial advice is its potential to bridge the persistent advice affordability gap. By leveraging AI to streamline documentation processes, practices can reduce the delivery cost of advice. This is a critical step towards making financial advice more accessible, bridging the gap between what consumers can afford and what advisers currently charge. The global data supports this view, with most financial planners seeing AI as a tool to help reduce the cost of financial planning services and increase access to financial planning for underserved populations.

The global data supports this view, with 59% of financial planners seeing AI as a tool to help reduce the cost of financial planning services and 60% believing it will increase access to financial planning for underserved populations.

Future Outlook

As we look toward the future, the trajectory is clear: AI adoption in financial advice will continue accelerating. Australian practices are not just participating in this revolution but leading the charge, with implementation rates outpacing global averages. 

To maintain this momentum, however, both the AFLR and FPSB research suggest several priorities for the profession:

1. One key takeaway from the FPSB research is the importance of formalising AI governance. The study found that 45% of firms globally have some form of AI policy or guidance, highlighting the need for clear and comprehensive policies as AI becomes more integral to practice operations. This is a crucial step in ensuring that AI adoption is guided by best practices and regulatory compliance.
   
   
2. Invest in professional development: Almost half (49%) of financial planners globally identified data analysis and interpretation skills as their top priority for professional development to better adapt to AI.
   
   
3. Move toward enterprise-grade solutions: With only 36% of Australian practices currently paying for AI licenses, there's significant untapped potential in more sophisticated, purpose-built AI tools for financial advice.
   
   

ASIC further reinforces this by highlighting that governance arrangements should lead technology adoption, not follow it. Establishing clear AI policies, accountability structures, and risk management processes before deploying new AI capabilities will position practices to innovate safely while maintaining regulatory compliance. To this point, financial advisers must ensure their AI applications align with their obligation to provide services "efficiently, honestly and fairly." This includes ensuring AI models don't create unfairly biased or discriminatory outcomes, that advisers can explain AI-driven decisions to clients, and that AI isn't used to exploit client vulnerabilities or behavioural biases.

The Australian landscape report and global research data paint a clear picture: AI is no longer an experimental technology in financial advice—it's rapidly becoming a competitive necessity. Those practices that embrace these tools most effectively are positioning themselves to enhance profitability and serve more Australians with quality advice at accessible price points.

As the full 2025 Australian Financial Advice Landscape Report launches in the coming weeks, the findings on AI adoption will provide crucial benchmarks for practices evaluating their technology strategies in this rapidly evolving landscape.

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