"More clients are looking to protect the value they have built, whether through their business, their estate or their wider financial plans."
- Debbie Kennedy - LifeSearch
LifeSearch has announced the appointment of Nick Rixon as head of business protection and expert advice, bringing the company's specialist capabilities across business protection, wealth protection and complex risk under a single function.
The appointment comes after LifeSearch reported a 28% increase in business protection conversations so far in 2026, alongside rising inheritance tax-related enquiries and growing underwriting complexity, with one in four LifeSearch customers now on non-standard terms.
Nick has spent almost 13 years at LifeSearch, progressing through advisory, leadership and specialist roles. He spent five years as a senior protection adviser before moving into senior leadership positions, having most recently spent two years as senior advice leader – insurer relationships.
LifeSearch says that Nick’s new role, encompassing specialist advice across business protection, wealth protection, high-net-worth and complex risk, reflects a broader shift in the market, where a growing share of cases now require specialist input as complexity continues to rise. This is driven by factors including business ownership structures, higher sums assured, international assets, multiple income streams, and more complex medical underwriting.
However, despite this growing complexity, LifeSearch says that protection remains underrepresented in many wealth and retirement planning conversations, representing the emergence of wealth protection as a distinct and growing area of advice, sitting alongside traditional protection planning.
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"Business protection and wealth protection are strategic growth areas for LifeSearch," Debbie Kennedy, chief executive at LifeSearch, said. "More clients are looking to protect the value they have built, whether through their business, their estate or their wider financial plans.
"Nick's appointment strengthens our specialist capability at exactly the right time. His experience makes him ideally placed to lead this growing area of the business and help ensure protection advice is embedded alongside broader business, wealth and estate planning conversations."
Nick Rixon added: "For business owners and high-net-worth clients, protecting the value they've created is as important as creating it in the first place, yet in my experience, protection is still one of the last conversations they have with their adviser. Having spent years working directly with advisers and clients on the most complex cases, I've seen how much value is lost when protection sits outside the wider financial plan rather than at the heart of it.
"My focus in this role is to make sure that wherever a client's needs are complex, whether that's business protection, IHT planning or high-net-worth cover, they get advice that's properly integrated into wider financial planning. That's what will make the biggest difference to outcomes as demand in this space continues to grow."
