The Personal Investment Management and Financial Advice Association (PIMFA) is the trade association for firms that provide investment management and financial advice to help individuals and families plan for their financial life journeys.

On 1st June 2017 the two leading UK trade associations in the investment management and financial advice sector , APFA and the WMA, merged to create the Personal Investment Management & Financial Advice Association (PIMFA).

The Association of Professional Financial Advisers (APFA) was the representative body for the financial adviser profession. APFA formed in 1999 as the Association of Independent Financial Advisers (AIFA). Following the Retail Distribution Review (RDR), the association changed its name in November 2012 to APFA (Association of Professional Financial Advisers), and represented independent or restricted financial advisers and networks of advisers.

At the time of the merger there were approximately 14,000 adviser firms employing 81,000 people. 40% of investment and protection products were sold through financial advisers, with annual revenue estimated at £3.8 billion (£2.2 billion from investment business, £1.2 billion from general insurance and £400 million from mortgages). Over 50% of the population ranked financial advisers as one of their top three most trusted sources of advice about money matters. As such, financial advisers represented a leading force in the maintenance of a competitive and dynamic retail financial services market.

The Wealth Management Association (WMA) was created as a trade association in 1990 and was originally called the Association of Private Client Investment Managers and Stockbrokers (APCIMS).

APCIMS mission was to represent the interests of stockbroking firms which specialised in providing services for individual investors balancing the powerful influence of major investing institutions. From 1994 the membership was extended to include investment managers. On 1st October 2013 APCIMS re-branded as the Wealth Management Association (WMA) as a more accurate representation of the breadth of its membership spanning the investment spectrum from Execution Only services through to Advice and Discretion.

At the time of the merger WMA represented 180 wealth management firms and associate members that provided a range of financial solutions including financial advice, portfolio management, as well as investment and execution services. These members firms looked after over £825 billion of wealth for over 2.2 million retail investors – comparable in value to around 40% of GDP. These firms operated across more than 580 sites, employed over 27,000 staff, ran over 5.5 million client portfolios and carried out over 20 million trades a year.