Licensees compete to attract practices

The Australian financial planning landscape may have reshaped with the emergence of Akumin, Rhombus and the rebranding of Fortnum to Entireti, but what has not changed is competition for well-run and therefore profitable advice practices.

The latest analysis of the Financial Adviser Register by WealthData has not only pointed to the continuing churn of advisers between licensees, but also the movement of advice practices and their teams.

The bottom line, however, is that after making a solid start to 2025, numbers on the FAR have levelled off with adviser churn again the dominant factor and with overall adviser numbers actually falling by two this week to 15,576.

Wealth Data principal, Colin Wiliams, noted which licensees were leading the way in terms of adviser growth, stating most growth recorded by a licensee during the first quarter was recorded by  is Partners Wealth Group a new licensee that moved away from the Entireti & Akumin Group.

“Next is Endeavor Asset Management that gained all its advisers from licensee Wealth Trail owned by Chris MaCeachern. Centrepoint Group continue their growth story up by 19,” he said.

Key Adviser Movements For This Period

• Net change of advisers (-2)
• Current number of advisers at 15,576
• Net Change Calendar 2025 YTD +100
• Net Change Financial YTD +233
• 28 Licensee Owners had net gains of 46 advisers
• 27 Licensee Owners had net losses for (-49) advisers
• Three new licensees and two ceased
• 4 New entrants
• Number of advisers active in this period, appointed / resigned: 90.

Growth – Licensee Owners

• The Principal Edge up by nine, all advisers moving across from Australian Advice Network
• Entireti & Akumin Group up by 4. Notable movements being; Fortnum gained four advisers from RI Advisory owned by Rhombus, Hillross gained three advisers from Gantfm Pty Ltd and AMP Financial Planning lost three advisers to Blue Sky Family Trust (Cotham Advisory).
• Three licensee owners up by net three:
  • Team Super with all three advisers moving across from Industry Super Holdings
  • Infocus with one adviser from JBWere, another from ANZ Bank and another adviser coming back after a break who last practiced in 2019.
  • Blue Skye Family Trust (Cotham Advisory) with all advisers moving from AMP Financial Planning
• Partners Wealth Group up by two with one adviser from Cobalt and the other from Consultum owned by Rhombus.
• 22 licensee owners up by net one adviser each including Centrepoint Group, Findex and Morgans Group.

Losses – Licensee Owners

• Australian Advice Network down by nine after losing three last week. As mentioned above, the advisers this week moved to The Principal Edge. The number of advisers at Australian Advice Network is now 10.
• Four licensee owners lost net three advisers each :
  • Collins House Private Wealth with all three advisers moving to Consultum owned by Rhombus
  • Gantfm Pty Ltd and now down to zero, with all three moving to Hillross owned by Entireti & Akumin Group
  • Guideway Financial Services, three advisers have yet to be appointed elsewhere
  • LFG Financial Services, one adviser commencing their own licensee, the other two yet to be appointed elsewhere.
• Six licensee owners down by net two advisers each:
  • Andre Dirckze (Wealth Effect Advisory), both advisers yet to be appointed elsewhere
  • Lifespan both advisers yet to be appointed elsewhere
  • Rhombus, as mentioned in the movements above, a busy week gaining three advisers and losing five.
  • Sequoia, losing one to Centrepoint and the other yet to be appointed elsewhere
  • Shaw and Partners, both advisers yet to be appointed elsewhere
  • WT Financial Group, both advisers yet to be appointed elsewhere
• A tail of 16 licensee owners down by net one each including; Count Limited, Janus Financial and PSK.