Majority of advice exits were ‘unsustainable’ – IOOF

IOOF has revealed the extent of its financial planning footprint in its latest update to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) involving a decrease in the number of smaller practices in the self-employed channel.

The update, which noted a $2.4 billion increase in funds under management and advice (FUMA) to $321.1 billion, also painted a clear picture of IOOF’s planning business as its acquisition of MLC Wealth is settled down.

It said that as at the end of September, IOOF maintained active advice service relationships with 1,883 financial advisers, slightly lower than the numbers at the end of June.

It said there was a decrease in the number of smaller practices in the self-employed channel due to the “offboarding of 37 practices primarily from Lonsdale and M3 which ceased or transferred to new licensees.

It said that the number of self-licensed practices was stable throughout the quarter.

“Correspondingly, the self-employed adviser numbers reduced by 63, with the main contributors being Lonsdale (19), Consultum (13) and M3 (10) as advisers moved to new licensees, with five moving to IOOF’s self-licenses alliances model,” it said.

The company said the majority of the departures were considered unsustainable for the advice strategy and associated support model.