New adviser data gives rise to optimism

According to Wealth Data, there was only a net loss of 10 advisers over the period from 22 December 2022 to 12 January 2023, with the number of advisers on ASIC’s Financial Advisers Register sitting at 15,855.

Even more encouraging is that the new year has seen a growth of 22 advisers, which cushioned the loss of 32 advisers in the final week of 2022.

Wealth Data founder Colin Williams said: “[This is] a much better start to the year to what we faced in January 2022, which was smashed by the then FASEA exam requirements. Encouraging to see the ongoing hiring of Provisional Advisers into the new year.”

The slowdown in adviser losses continues the trend from 2022, which followed up a tough beginning with a stronger second half. There was a net loss of 976 advisers in the first six months of 2022, with 74 new licensees and 299 closures. The second half saw a much smaller net loss of 360, with 80 new licensees and just 55 closures.

“As highlighted many times during 2022, the licensees closing were dominated by Accounting - Limited Advice peer group, i.e. operating on a restricted AFSL. They claimed 201 of the 348 closed licensees and only opened one new one. In contrast, the Financial Planning business model opened 126 and 82 closed,” said Mr Williams.

There were 31 licensee owners that had net gains over the reporting period, bolstering their ranks with 47 extra advisers, while 35 licensee owners accounted for a net loss of 57 advisers.

Aware Super, APT Wealth and Bluewater topped the list, up four advisers each, with the latter bringing advisers over from MCA Financial Planners. Mr Williams added that MCA had “all but disbanded”, losing all but one of its advisers over the period.

My Fortress and Clover Financial were both up by a net three, while WT Financial Group and Kilara Financial were up two. A new licensee also commenced with two advisers.

An additional 23 licensee owners, including Fortnum, Fiducian, and ASVW, were all up one adviser.

AMP had a net loss of five advisers, while Industry Super Holdings and Sequoia were among four licensees that lost three each.

One of the licensees that closed was Clearview with the advisers merged into other licences owned by Centrepoint over the last year.