Philippa Honner, founder of Sydney-based Honner communications firm, has been appointed Managing Partner and FINN Financial Services Practice Leader for Asia Pacific following FINN Partners' acquisition of her 25-person agency on July 7, 2026. The move establishes FINN's direct presence in Australia while significantly expanding the New York-headquartered firm's financial services capabilities across Asia Pacific, a region accounting for nearly 10 percent of FINN's USD 200 million in global fees.
Under Honner's leadership, the boutique Sydney agency specialized in financial services and corporate communications for over 25 years, serving more than 50 clients managing collectively over AUD 10 trillion in investment capital. All Honner employees have become FINN employees, with the agency continuing to operate as Honner, A FINN Partners Company. Howard Solomon, FINN's founding managing partner and APAC lead, praised the cultural fit while emphasizing Australia's strategic value. "Australia is a key growth market in the region and one we have been looking at very carefully for years," Solomon stated. The acquisition brings FINN's global office count to 37 while expanding its Asia Pacific team to approximately 250 professionals and lifting the region's fee pool to approximately USD 19 million.
Honner holds 25 years of experience in financial PR and journalism. Before founding Honner in 1997, she worked in banking in Sydney and London and served as a financial journalist in the United Kingdom before returning to Australia in 1994 to edit Super Review, a journal focused on superannuation and institutional investment. She also spent two years at Fishburn, a leading UK corporate and financial PR agency, where she worked on accounts including PWC and British Telecom during the dotcom era. Honner studied economics at the University of Sydney and spent time based in New York between 2017 and 2018 establishing US market connections for her agency.
FINN Partners, founded in 2011, has grown from USD 24 million in fees to USD 200 million through organic expansion and strategic acquisitions including RICE Communications in Singapore in 2025. The firm operates 37 offices across three continents with more than 1,300 professionals. Recently ranked among the world's top 20 independent PR firms by PRWeek, FINN maintains a substantial financial services practice serving clients including Charles Schwab, Chubb, Deutsche Bank and Natixis. Australia's superannuation sector, forecast to reach AUD 8.3 trillion by the early 2030s and potentially become the world's second-largest pension system after the US, presents a significant growth opportunity for FINN's financial communications offerings.
The appointment reflects FINN's deliberate Asia Pacific expansion strategy, executed through targeted acquisitions in growth markets. Honner's elevation suggests FINN intends to position her as a senior regional leader responsible for deepening financial services penetration across Asia Pacific's increasingly complex regulatory and capital markets environments. Her mandate encompasses expanding FINN's financial services practice while building relationships with Australian financial brands expanding regionally and global firms seeking consolidated communications approaches across the APAC region. The timing aligns with accelerating institutional capital flows through Asia, particularly in Australia's expanding asset management and wealth management sectors, where specialized communications counsel addressing evolving regulatory frameworks and stakeholder expectations carries strategic value for multinational financial institutions.
