The Training Engine Nobody Replaced - Story 2 of 6
When the banks left advice, they took the profession's apprenticeship system with them. It never came back.
For decades the major banks were financial advice's recruitment and training engine, absorbing the cost and supervisory load of bringing new advisers to market at a scale no one else could match. Their withdrawal from 2018 onwards removed that engine, and the numbers show exactly what was lost. The 0 to 4 year cohort sat at around 8,400 advisers at its 2019 peak, collapsed to just 667 by 2023, and has recovered only modestly to 1,973 today.
The Load Nobody Picked Up
The training function did not transfer to another part of the market. It simply disappeared. Today just 435 provisional advisers are working through their professional year, spread thinly across licensees, with no segment carrying the load the banks once did. Whatever renewal the workforce achieves is flowing almost entirely into full-service financial planning.
Provisional advisers by business model. The Australian Financial Adviser Market 2026, Padua Solutions.
The Australian Financial Adviser Market 2026 is Padua's data-driven read on the state of the profession. Drawing on the ASIC Financial Adviser Register and adviser exam data, it maps six forces behind a market that has stopped shrinking but is far from recovered: 15,012 advisers, ageing fast, against 3.6 million Australians who need advice. The conclusion is a shift in the question itself, from how to grow the workforce to how to get more from the one we have.
Those Who Get Through, Stay
There is genuine good news in the cohort that does get through. 573 new advisers joined in 2025, up from 410 in 2023, and 94% were still current at the start of 2026. Year-three retention has climbed from 77% for the 2020 cohort to 87% for the 2023 cohort. The people entering advice today are staying. There are just not enough of them.
Observed retention by entry cohort. The Australian Financial Adviser Market 2026, Padua Solutions.
Rebuilding the Engine Without a Bank Behind You
This is where external infrastructure changes the equation. A boutique practice that cannot fund an in-house support team can still host and develop a new adviser when the document production, research and compliance workload sits with a partner built for it. Padua's paraplanning and advice production services carry exactly that load, making the next generation of advisers viable for the firms that never had a bank behind them.
Next in the series. Story 3 looks at the advisers that are qualified that are still missing from the market.
Read the full report, The Australian Financial Adviser Market 2026
Explore the data behind the report at wealthdata.com.au, including the free Adviser Movement Dashboards.
If you have any questions about the content of the report contact Lavon.Koopelian@paduasolutions.com
First Month Now Only $39.00 Selecting 'YEARLY' cost is only $950
