Adviser numbers continue to tick up through April

Wealth Data’s weekly analysis saw adviser numbers increase to 15,616. Over the past four weeks, a total of 40 advisers have joined the Financial Advisers Register (FAR).

Prior to this, there were two weeks of minor losses that followed 10 consecutive weeks of net growth between January to March.

Some 10 new entrants joined the profession in the week ending 1 May, while one new licensee opened and zero ceased. Nearly 50 advisers were active with appointments and resignations.

Thanks to ASIC’s recent adviser exam held on 6 March, which saw 73 per cent of the 241 candidates pass, a collective 54 new entrants have entered the profession over the past month.

In terms of adviser growth, 23 licensee owners had net gains of 28 advisers in total. Five licensee owners welcomed two advisers each.

This included Perpetual Group after one adviser returned following a two-year break and the addition of one adviser from Sequoia-owned Interprac.

Meanwhile, Templestone Financial Services appointed one adviser from Entireti-owned Charter Financial Planning and one from Insignia-owned Bridges Financial Services.

Another 18 licensee owners rose by one adviser each, such as Sequoia, Morgans Group, Elston and one new Australian Financial Services (AFS) licensee.

On the other hand, 17 licensee owners suffered net losses of 22 advisers in total.

Namely, Count declined by three advisers due to one adviser opening their own licensee and the remaining two departing but are yet to be appointed elsewhere.

Entireti, Fitzpatricks and WT Financial Group all bid farewell to two advisers, respectively, while a tail of 13 licensee owners fell by one adviser each. This included Insignia Financial, Evans & Partners and FMD Financial Group.

Last week, ifa covered how adviser numbers fared under the current Labor government. For the week of 19 May 2022, Wealth Data showed there were 16,912 advisers on the FAR.

As of 24 April 2025, this number had fallen to 15,611, representing a loss of over 1,300 advisers during the period or 7.6 per cent.

The last federal election was held on 21 May 2022, while the upcoming one will take place on Saturday, 3 May. During its tenure, the party has developed legislation for the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes and introduced the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort.