Exits as Count’s Affinia acquisition beds down

Mike Taylor

Managing Editor/Publisher, Financial Newswire

26 May 2023

Count Financial’s acquisition of Affinia appears to be playing out on the Financial Adviser Register (FAR), with two of Affinia’s most senior executives affected.

Affinia’s head of Advice and Research, Sam Rubin has signalled on social media that his role ended this month, while the company’s national manager, Business Coaching, is no longer showing up on the FAR as being attached to the licensee.

According to the latest analysis from WealthData Count had a net loss of five adviser this week with Affinia losing two and gaining one adviser.

Key Adviser Movements This Week:

• Net Change of advisers down by (-14)
• Net Change of +29 for 2023 Calendar YTD
• 13 Licensee Owners had net gains for 13 advisers
• 18 Licensee Owners had net losses for (-27) advisers
• 0 New licensees and 1 ceased
• 5 New entrants
• Number of advisers active this week appointed / resigned: 45.

Summary
A net loss of 14 advisers this week in what has been a quiet week in terms of the number of advisers either resigning or appointed at only 45.

Growth This Week

• Limited growth this week with all growth licensee owners only increasing by 1 adviser each
• Growth firms include United Super (Cbus), Spark Partnership, Sequoia and Centrepoint.

Losses This Week

• Count had the greatest net loss of (-5). Count as a licensee lost net (-3) losing 4 and picking up one new entrant. Affinia (now part of Count) lost (-2) losing 3 and gaining 1. A couple of the losses are / were employed in management roles.
• Five licensee owners lost net (-2) each including Findex, Steinhardt (Infocus) and Insignia.
• 12 licensee owners down (-1) including AMP, Fortnum, Perpetual and WT Financial Group.

Some of the advisers who moved off the FAR this week may well re-join soon. However, over the last few weeks we have seen the calendar YTD number drop and is now at +29 after being at +64 on March 1, 2023.