Number of Advisers increased by +9 from 16,406 to 16,415

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Key Adviser Movements This Week:

• Net Change of advisers +9

• 32 Licensee Owners had net gains for 54 advisers

• 30 Licensee Owners had net losses for (-42) advisers

• 4 new licensees commenced and (-2) ceased

• 3 Provisional Advisers (PA) commenced and 1 ceased.

Note: Our Members Lounge - Covers all movement and very detailed reports for all licensees and advisers.

Summary
A positive week with a net gain of plus 9. We are still seeing most resignations posted to the previous financial year and appointments posted for this financial year, giving a plus 143 net growth this financial year.

If you are using our charts and tables for presentations, I would highly recommend that you have a play with the dates before finalising the presentation. Over the last couple of years, we have seen significant changes at the end and start of both the calendar and financial years. A day or two either side of the calendar and financial year can make a significant change to the high level movement of advisers and this flows down to individual licensee owners and the licensees.

Growth This Week
Steinhardt Group (Infocus) had a strong week, up 6 after capturing a practice from AMP Financial Planning along with 2 additional advisers from ANZ. A new AFSL commenced with 6 advisers and another with 5 (details provided to members).

Amanda Cassar (Wealth Planning Partners) had a practice join from RI Advice for net growth of 4. Five licensee owners had net growth of 2 each including WT Financial Group and Centrepoint. 23 licensee owners had net gain of 1, including Count Group and Advice Evolution.

Losses This week
Diverger topped the losses down (-4), losing 3 from GPS wealth and 1 from Merit Wealth. 3 licensee owners down (-3) each including Insignia who put on 4 advisers and lost 7. Three licensee owners down (-2) including Viridian. A tail of 23 licensee owners down (-1) each including Fortnum, Wilsons and ANZ Bank.

Gains and Losses - Calendar YTD
As a result of the flurry of movement around the end and start of the financial year, the calendar YTD data makes for interesting reading.

Count Group have extend their growth to plus 36, Castleguard Trust (Lifespan) and now Centrepoint at plus 13. Steinhardt Group (Infocus) knocking at the door at plus 11.

As for the losses, Insignia (-138) and AMP Group at (-73). Craigs Investment Partners now closed at (-66) and WT Financial Group (-53).

General and Approved Qualifications
With one round to go for advisers to pass what is commonly known as the FASEA Exam, attention will quickly turn to the need to get qualified for Jan 1, 2026 (subject to further changes). We have taken a closer look at what ASIC now calls ‘Approved Qualifications’. Effectively, from Jan 1, 2026, advisers will need an approved degree qualification that is AQF7 or above. Previously it was referred to as FASEA Approved Qualifications. Note: This does not include passing the FASEA Financial Adviser Exam despite some licensees making an entry for it.

This Approved Qualification section of the ASIC FAR has been mostly blank and we initially only tracked an entry of any type. We are now tracking any entries that include ‘AQF’, this includes scores below AQF7. Our assumption that an AQF entry indicates that the adviser is on their way to securing their required degree. We will review as we get closer to Jan 1, 2026.

We also add this as a ‘Star’ to our Star Ratings system. We allocate stars as follows, with a max of 5 stars per adviser:

• 2 Stars if commenced as an adviser more than 10 years ago

• 1 Star if commenced between 5 and 10 years ago

• 1 Star for being a member of a recognised advice association such as FPA, AFA, SMSF Assoc and Stockbrokers and Investment Advisers Assoc.

• 1 Star for a ‘Degree’ under Qualifications and Training (General qualifications)

• 1 Star for having an AQF result under Approved Qualifications.

• For sectors (Biz models) and licensees, we give an ‘average’ rating based on the total stars divided by the number of advisers.

The table below highlights the current situation across the entire advice sector. It is currently showing that only 17.5% of advisers have an AQF approved qualification. However, 61.8% of advisers have a degree. The Super Fund based advisers score well in both categories and is the only sector to have a Star Ratings score of greater than 3. The Financial Planning sector is a bit below the averages, but does have the second highest Star Rating, this in part is driven by having 66.2% of advisers who commenced more than 10 years ago.

As time goes on, this table will become more important and it can be viewed by members.

The table which is ‘live’ can be adjusted to just show advisers by associations, states and licensees. Some surprising results get turned up!

Are you looking for new Advisers to join your team? Are you looking for Advisers for your services?
If your job revolves around knowing the adviser market, you may like to view our blog post - Finding Financial Advisers Made Easy

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