LifeSearch has appointed Nick Rixon as Head of Business Protection and Expert Advice, bringing together the company's specialist capabilities across business protection, wealth protection and complex risk under a single function.
The appointment comes as LifeSearch identifies business protection and wealth protection as strategic growth areas; reporting a 28% increase in business protection conversations so far in 2026, alongside rising inheritance tax-related enquiries and growing underwriting complexity. One in four LifeSearch customers are now placed on non-standard terms, underlining the growing importance of specialist and integrated advice and insurer support.
Rixon has spent almost 13 years at LifeSearch, progressing through a range of advisory, leadership and specialist roles. He spent five years as a Senior Protection Adviser, developing expertise in complex protection cases, before moving into senior leadership positions for more than six years. He most recently spent two years as Senior Advice Leader – Insurer Relationships, working closely with provider partners to strengthen relationships and improve outcomes for advisers and clients navigating complex protection needs.
His 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 - driven by factors including business ownership structures, higher sums assured, international assets, multiple income streams, and more complex medical underwriting.
Debbie Kennedy, Chief Executive at LifeSearch, said: “Business protection and wealth protection are strategic growth areas for LifeSearch. 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, Head of Business Protection and Expert Advice at LifeSearch, commented: “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."
Despite this growing complexity, protection remains under-represented in many wealth and retirement planning conversations, leaving advisers with an opportunity to deliver more integrated advice and better client outcomes. For LifeSearch, this represents the emergence of wealth protection as a distinct and growing area of advice, sitting alongside traditional protection planning.
LifeSearch has built a specialist proposition designed to support business protection, wealth protection, inheritance tax and complex risk cases. This includes a dedicated team of specialist advisers backed by a dedicated support function, all trained in handling complex protection scenarios - from initial advice and case design through to underwriting and placement.
