Third of advisers now work for small licensees

Mike Taylor

Managing Editor/Publisher, Financial Newswire

2 May 2023

Mid-sized financial planning licensees may be competing hard to recruit experienced financial advisers but it is the smaller licensees which have recorded the most growth.

That it is the bottom line of the latest analysis from WealthData which reveals that while the likes of Count Financial and Centrepoint are still looking to attract advisers, it has been the licensees with between one and four advisers who have been growing.

According to WealthData principal, Colin Williams, while the number of advisers dropped from 17,499 to 14,519 advisers between January 2021 and April, this year, the number of licensees has actually grown from 1,547 to 1,656 in the same period, and the smaller licensees have dominated that growth.

He pointed out that the number of advisers employed by licensees with less than 20 advisers now represented 35.8% of the profession, compared to 29.1 at the beginning of 2021.

The analysis has come at the same time as the latest data from the Financial Adviser Register (FAR) has delivered a picture of continuing churn of advisers between licensees.

Key Adviser Movements last week:

• Net Change of advisers up by +3
• Net Change of +59 for 2023 Calendar YTD
• 24 Licensee Owners had net gains for 27 advisers
• 21 Licensee Owners had net losses for (-27) advisers
• 1 new licensee and 4 ceased
• 8 New Entrants
• Number of advisers active this week appointed / resigned: 63

Growth

• Three licensee owners had net growth of 2 advisers each including Prosperitas Partners (Inner Wealth) with 2 advisers moving away from Vinrac.
• Diverger also up by 2 advisers, picking up 3 advisers, 2 being new entrants and losing 1 adviser.
• A new licensee commenced with 2 advisers with both advisers coming from Infocus.
• 21 licensee owners up by 1 each including Spark partnership, Ord Minnett, Bell Financial Group and AAN Wealth.

Losses

• Mercer was down by (-4) and all 4 advisers have not been appointed elsewhere.
• 2 Licensees owners closed, including AustralianSuper both losing (-2) advisers each. AustralianSuper do offer advice services which are normally outsourced to Industry Fund Services (IFS).
• Financial Professionals Group (AFSL Investment Professionals) also down by (-2)
• 17 licensee owners down by (-1) each including AMP Group, Centrepoint, Fiducian, Insignia and Morgans.