Have adviser exits stabilised?
The rush to the exit generated by the last financial adviser exam appears to have subsided with the profession returning to growth this week, including a continuation of the upward trend in Provisional Advisers.
There are now growing signs that financial planning numbers may be close to having bottomed now standing at 15,917 and now less likely to drop below 15,000
The rush of exits from the exam were mostly from larger licensees and WealthData principal, Colin Williams, expects that there will be further departures reported from small licensees over coming weeks.
The total number of financial advisers on the Financial Adviser Register (FAR) rose by nine, but Williams said that what was most heartening was the fact that the number of Provisional Advisers was up by 11.
“Currently we have 267 PAs, up by 230 from the start of the year,” he said.
“At the end of 2021 we only had 37. The number of new advisers including PAs has jumped by 321 over the year to date, up from 237 at the end of 2021 to a current number of 558,” Williams said.
Key Adviser Movements This Week:
Net Change of advisers +9
35 Licensee Owners had net gains for 44 advisers
31 Licensee Owners had net losses for (-38) advisers
2 new licensees commenced and (-2) ceased
11 Provisional Advisers (PA) commenced and none ceased.
Summary
This week’s gain of 9 advisers was a nice surprise after the losses of some 450 advisers over the past 2 weeks. As mentioned last week, we do expect to see more losses due to advisers not passing their Financial Exam (FASEA). However, most of the losses are sitting in small licensees and on past experience, they can be very slow to report losses.
The continuous growth of ‘Provisional Advisers’ and default new Advisers, is very welcome and may well balance out additional losses that we could see between now and the new year.
Growth This Week
A good number of licensee owners at 35 did mange net growth this week. Sequoia via Interprac gained the most at 5 with 6 appointments and 1 loss. 2 of the advisers came from Nextplan and 2 from a now closed licensee. Castleguard via its licensee Lifespan was up net 3, which included picking up 2 advisers from AMP.
Three licensee owners up plus 2, Fortnum which included 1 PA, Findex and a new licensee with advisers moving away from Crown Wealth. A long tail of 30 licensee owners up net 1 including Chris Brycki of Stockspot fame, and Shartru gaining an adviser from FYG Planners.
Losses This Week
AMP Group down (-3), 2 from AMP Financial Planning and 1 from Charter. Crown Wealth Group also down (-3). Capstone down (-2) a small licensee also down (-2) and one closed licensee down to zero after losing 2 advisers.
A tail of 26 licensee owners down (-1) each including Australian Unity, Diverger, Fiducian and UniSuper.
Only if the skilled adviser education changes go ahead. Otherwise there will a further large exit in 2026
Nice try AF, to equate “experienced” with “skilled”. But it won’t wash. Experienced advisers are often just advisers who have been giving poor quality advice for longer. “Happy clients” and “never had a compliant” are not evidence of good quality advice. They are usually evidence of good sales and relationship skills. Good quality advice requires more than that.
“This week’s gain of 9 advisers was a nice surprise after the losses of some 450 advisers over the past 2 weeks.”
Mike, I have to say I really do appreciate your optimism in trying to find a shred of light, any light, in the shambles that the Financial Service Industry has experienced and continues to experience for well over a decade.
Here’s hoping for better days but somehow I can’t see it, but maybe that is just my Post Traumatic Stress kicking in !