The latest edition of NS&I’s Financial Advice Barometer showed that security remained the top priority for advisers’ clients.

The survey revealed 42% of respondents said it was their primary concern in the October 2018 poll.

The study also confirmed an upward trend, observed since April 2018, in the number of respondents recommending that their clients should hold 20% of an investment portfolio in cash deposits.

In October, more than a quarter (27%) of respondents said they would recommend holding 20% of an investment portfolio in cash deposits, compared to 23% who said this in July and 18% who said this in April.

Other key findings in the Financial Advice Barometer were that 38% of respondents expected to increase their clients’ cash holdings in the next six months.

31% said that they expect to slightly increase their clients’ cash holdings (compared to 22% who said this in July and 12% who said this in April).

7% of respondents said that they expected to significantly increase their clients’ cash holdings (compared to 6% who said this in July and 4% who said this in April).

Over the same period, there was a steady decline in the proportion of respondents who said they expect to make no change to their clients’ cash holdings in the next six months, with 58% saying this in October, compared to 65% in July and 77% in April.

For the topical question in October’s survey, NS&I asked advisers whether they were considering adopting any new strategies in regards to their clients’ financial plans in the next six months.

19% of respondents said they were considering adopting new strategies in regards to their clients' financial plans in the next six months, with 59% saying that they were not going to do so, and 22% who were ‘not sure’.

The survey also showed a change in those respondents who said that they were ‘very confident’ in the future prospects for the financial advice industry, compared to those respondents who said that they were ‘fairly confident’.

More than a quarter (28%) said that they were ‘very confident’ in October, down 14 percentage points from 42% in July.

Conversely, 51% of advisers said that they were ‘fairly confident’ in the future prospects for the financial advice industry, up 11 percentage points from 40% in July.

Andrew Pike, head of intermediary relationships at NS&I, said: “Our most recent adviser survey indicates that security remains the top priority for advisers’ clients.

“There also appears to be a clear trend towards cash, reflected in both an increase in the proportion of advisers expecting to increase their clients’ cash holdings heading into 2019 and an increase in the proportion of advisers that recommend that cash takes a bigger share of investment portfolios.”