Global risk is no longer something advisers can treat as background noise. Elly Dowding and Lee Coates OBE, Directors at In Accord and the Accord Initiative, share their opinion that paraplanners understanding how systemic risk feeds into client preferences is becoming a core part of good advice support – not an optional extra.
One of the quiet shifts happening in financial advice is that “risk” is no longer a purely financial concept.
Market volatility still matters, of course. But advisers and paraplanners are now working in a world where clients are absorbing – consciously or not – a constant stream of information about climate change, geopolitical instability, social tension and economic fragility. That wider context is shaping how people feel about the future, and by extension, how they think about money.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2026 is useful here precisely because it doesn’t try to predict markets. Instead, it maps how risks interact. Economic pressure links to social instability. Environmental degradation feeds into geopolitical risk. Trust in institutions becomes more fragile.
For paraplanners, this matters because suitability is built on understanding objectives and risk, and those conversations are increasingly influenced by factors that don’t sit neatly in a risk profiling tool.
The WEF report reinforces two points that are directly relevant to advice support:
First, risk is systemic and interconnected. It no longer makes sense to treat financial risk, environmental risk and social risk as separate boxes.
Second, perceived risk matters as much as measurable risk. Client behaviour is driven by what people believe is happening in the world, not just what the numbers say.
That perspective is echoed closer to home in HM Government’s recent national security assessment on global biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse. The report frames environmental degradation as a risk amplifier – something that intensifies existing economic, supply chain and geopolitical pressures rather than sitting quietly in the background.
From an advice perspective, the point is not that portfolios are expected to “solve” these issues. They can’t. But these reports describe the environment clients are living in – and that environment shapes attitudes to long-term planning, resilience and investment choices.
This is where paraplanners often sit at the sharp end.
If a client expresses discomfort with certain exposures, anxiety about long-term sustainability, or a preference for or against specific investment approaches, that needs to be captured, understood and reflected appropriately. Not assumed. Not ignored. Not treated as an awkward add-on.
This is also where structured approaches to client preferences become valuable. The In Accord Client Preference Programme (CPP) is an enabling framework for process consistency and client preferences and objectives.
At its core, it asks a simple question: has the client been given clear, neutral information about their investment options, and have they had the opportunity to express any preferences, or even to confirm they have none?
For paraplanners, this translates into better evidence, clearer audit trails and fewer grey areas for research or when demonstrating suitability under Consumer Duty and COBS. Preferences, where relevant, become part of the documented rationale rather than something inferred after the fact.
The reality is that many firms are already doing this informally. The risk lies in inconsistency. When preference conversations are optional or poorly framed, outcomes become harder to defend.
Risk conversations are no longer just about volatility bands and time horizons. They are human conversations, shaped by a world that feels more uncertain than it did even a few years ago. Advice processes that recognise that and evidence it properly are simply better aligned with where regulation and client expectations are heading.
This article draws on themes discussed in a recent Accord Talks podcast episode exploring global risk, client preferences and Consumer Duty in practice.
Elly Dowding and Lee Coates OBE are the directors at In Accord and the Accord Initiative, which provides free-to-access education, resources, and compliance support to the financial advice sector.
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