Financial Adviser Market Insights, February 26, 2026
Adviser Numbers Decreased by Three for the week moving from 15,143 to 15,140
The net change in financial advisers decreased by three for the week. Only two new entrants joined the ASIC Financial Adviser Register (FAR) — the lowest number for the year. Four new licensees commenced and five ceased. A total of 63 advisers were affected by change.
Experienced Pathway and qualifications update
As we end the month, we take another look at the ASIC supplied data for the Experienced Pathway (EP) and qualifications required by advisers for 2026. The data is to 19 February 2026 and has been cross‑referenced with today’s data from the Financial Adviser Register (FAR).
94 advisers have been flagged as providing “No Info” to ASIC regarding their EP status and have no qualifications counting towards the 2026 requirements. 82 of the advisers work in licensees with less than 10 advisers and 22 are sole advisers, i.e. the only adviser in their AFSL
Exactly half of the above advisers have starting dates before December 2011 and may qualify for the EP.
21 advisers have said “No” to the EP but don’t have any qualifications counting towards the 2026 requirements.
65 advisers have said “Yes” to taking up the EP but passed their Financial Adviser Exam (previously known as the FASEA Exam) after October 2022, which was the latest date needed to qualify for the EP.
The data indicates that some 180 advisers are potentially at risk of not being able to qualify as financial advisers.
Since 1 December 2025, 536 advisers have resigned and are currently shown as “ceased” on the FAR. When we reported on Jan 15, 2026 this number was 440. This highlights the steady growth of losses post the initial large fall witnessed at the start of the year.
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Key Adviser Movements for the week
15,140 current advisers
Net change of advisers (-3)
24 licensee owners had net gains of 32 advisers
24 licensee owners had net losses of (-36) advisers
4 new licensees and 5 ceased
2 new entrants
63 advisers affected by appointments / resignations.
Other key dates affected by this week’s data
Net Change Calendar 2026 YTD +71
Net Change Financial YTD (2025/26) (-31)
Net change last 12 months (-434).
Growth - Licensee Owners
Four licensee owners up by two each:
Infocus up by four with all four advisers switching from Interprac owned by Sequoia
Entireti & Akumin Group up by three; hiring four across the group with two from different licensees, one coming back into advice after a break of some several years and one new entrant. The adviser that ceased is not showing as being appointed elsewhere to date
A new licensee (details given to members) commenced with three advisers, switching from Fortnum Private owned by Entireti & Akumin Group
Another new licensee commenced with two advisers, both switching from Interprac.
A total of 20 licensee owners up by net one including: Macquarie Group, Lifespan and Cobalt Advisers. The remaining two new licensees also commenced with one adviser each.
Losses - Licensee Owners
Sequoia down by eight with most of the losses noted above. For the last two weeks they are down by 12, for this calendar year down by 40 well ahead of Telstra with the next highest loss at eight. Over the past six months they are down by 65, the most losses by any group over six months.
Count Limited down by five across three licensees and none showing as being appointed elsewhere to date
David Harrison - Money Options, down by two, both not showing as being appointed elsewhere. Money Options is down to zero advisers.
A tail of 21 licensee owners down by net one each including Findex Group, Insignia Group and Apex Macro Financial Group. The four remaining ceased licensees, all only had one adviser each that resigned this week.
