Minor setback as adviser numbers dip for first time in 10 weeks

There was a net decline of one adviser for the week ending 27 March, bringing adviser numbers to 15,578.

For the calendar year-to-date (YTD), the advice profession is up 102 advisers, while the financial YTD numbers are at 235.

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This week’s decline, albeit minor, marks the end of a 10-week back-to-back growth period for adviser numbers since the beginning of 2025.

Five new licensees commenced operations this week and zero ceased. Some seven new entrants joined the industry and over 60 advisers were active with appointments or resignations.

Looking at weekly growth, 25 licensee owners had net gains of 33 advisers. This was led by two new Australian Financial Services licensees that both opened up shop with three advisers each.

Four licensee owners welcomed two advisers each, such as Spark Financial Group hiring both from Fortnum, which is part of Entireti.

Sensible Investment added one adviser from Count-owned Paragem and one from Excalibur Wealth Group. Oreana saw two advisers join from Fitzpatricks, while Australian Financial Planning welcomed two who are still authorised at Step Up Financial Group.

Another 19 licensee owners were up by one adviser each, including Morgans, Ord Minnett and the remaining three new licensees.

In terms of adviser declines, 20 licensee owners had net losses of 27 advisers in total.

Australian Advice Network lost three advisers to one of the new licensees, alongside Industry Super Holdings which was also down by three and none of the advisers showing as being authorised elsewhere to date.

Entireti, Fitzpatricks and Insignia Financial also bid farewell to two advisers each.

A tail of 14 licensee owners lost one adviser respectively, such as Count, Sequoia Financial Group and Perpetual.

In 2024, overall adviser numbers recorded a total net loss of 145 advisers for the calendar year. This was a notable improvement from the 182 advisers lost during 2023 and the years prior. The final number of advisers at the end of 2024 was 15,477.

Regarding new entrants, 511 came onto the Financial Advisers Register during 2024, compared to 407 in 2023. The highest proportion of new entrants were hired by Entireti, followed by Count and WT Financial.