UK Financial Advisers Unaware of Majority of Clients' Crypto Holdings, Survey Finds

A survey arranged by digital asset services provider CoinShares found that more than half of UK-based financial advisers reported the bulk of their clients’ crypto holdings were outside their oversight.

According to the results of a CoinShares survey released on Thursday, 52% of UK advisers in a group of 261 European wealth management professionals said that the majority of their clients’ digital assets exposure was essentially “invisible” to them. Among all the EU countries surveyed, including France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, the number was 25%, with 61% of advisers saying that they worked in companies that explicitly restricted digital assets or provided no clear internal guidance.

“The capital has already been allocated,” said CoinShares co-founder and CEO Jean-Marie Mognetti. “The people entrusted with managing it simply cannot see it, and in most cases not because clients are unwilling to engage, but because firm policy prevents them from doing so. This is not a knowledge problem. It is not a demand problem. It is a firm-policy problem becoming a wrong-way risk.”

He added:

“[...] Visibility comes before advice. You cannot allocate, manage risk or earn trust over assets you cannot see.”

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the watchdog overseeing digital asset regulation, reported in December that about 8% of the country’s adults were invested in crypto. The group recently proposed allowing authorized investment funds to hold up to a 10% allocation of cryptocurrency exchange-traded notes.

Potential new leadership to shake up UK crypto policy?

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer resigned as Labour leader on Monday amid pressure from many in his own party, opening the door to a recently elected member of parliament to take the reins.

In a recent by-election, former Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham won a seat as a member of parliament representing Makerfield, positioning him to be heavily favored by many in Labour to replace Starmer. While it’s unclear how Burnham may handle crypto policy on a national stage, as mayor, he supported the blockchain industry as a driver for economic development.