This week’s analysis of the ASIC Financial Adviser Register (FAR), shows a decrease of (-99) Adviser Roles moving from a total of 20,405 to 20,306

The number of actual Advisers dropped by (-100) from 20,053 to 19,953

Click Here To Access The Detailed Adviser Dashboards

(See Dashboard 17 for more information to the variation between Adviser Roles and Actual Advisers)

Key movement stats for the week
A big drop this week with Actual Advisers dropping below 20,000, down to 19,953. The drop was dominated by SMSF Advisers Network, a licensee that offers limited advice support services to accountants, down by (-48) roles. For several weeks we have highlighted how Advisers and licensees with limited advice services are falling away and we are predicting increasing losses through the year.

The main reason behind the losses associated with limited advice are that the Advisers are opting not to proceed with the FASEA Exam. We can provide a detailed analysis of FASEA Exam results across peer groups and licensees upon request.

Number of roles appointed for the week was 61 and the number of roles resigned was 160, giving the net loss of (-99). Two new Provisional Advisers appointed, indicating that 59 Advisers ‘switched’ licensees.

Gains For The Week
34 licensees made net Adviser role gains of 53. Leading the way RI Advice with 11 as it continues to take on Advisers from within the IOOF Group. Two new licensees both commenced with 4 Advisers each: SA Wealth Solutions switching across from Matrix and ‘108 Tamar’ switching across from Godfrey Pembroke in Launceston, Tasmania.

Three licensees increased net roles by 2 and 28 by 1. Three new licensees commenced, including the two mentioned above for a total of 10 roles.

At the licensee owner level, 29 owners made net gains of 38 roles.

Losses For The Week
Losses this week are dominated by SMSF Adviser Network - owned by NTAA. They were down by (-48). Losses are best viewed at the ‘owner’ level on Dashboard 1B, with MLC Group down by (-18), Easton Group down y (-10) and Rice Warner calling it a day with the loss of its remaining 7 Advisers on the ASIC FAR.

In total 42 licensee owners had a net loss of (-137) Adviser roles. Five licensees closed for a total of (-11) Advisers, none of the 11 appeared to be full time client facing Advisers.

YTD Movement
MLC Group and AMP Group have both lost (-148) roles YTD. However, losses in percentage terms shows MLC Group at 25.9% and AMP Group at (-9.3%).

What could be an interesting number to follow is the combined number of MLC Group and IOOF Advisers - Currently sitting at 1,534 with 1,111 at IOOF and 423 at MLC. This is larger than AMP Group at 1,443. However, AMP Group have slowed its losses and ‘may’ retain their number 1 position post IOOF /MLC becoming a combined business. The current variance between the conglomerates is 91 and at the start of the year it was 224.

As for growth at the licensee owner level, Centrepoint Group have leapfrogged Count Financial to join Oreana with a net gain of 15 Adviser roles each. Count slipped to third with a gain of 14 closely followed by Fortnum with 12.

One last thought - Our analysis of the FASEA Exam results has shown that 699 ‘Known’ exam passes belong to Advisers who are currently not practicing (not listed as Current on the ASIC FAR). We believe this number is closer to 950 when grossed up to account for many Advisers who have opted not to have their results published publicly. For a complete analysis of the results, including details by licensee - please contact us directly.

Licensee (Dealer Group) Rating System

Checkout Dashboard 20A - Recently added dashboard that helps users to identify licensees that rank highest for a range of attributes including: Degree qualifications, membership of different associations and gender diversity.

The dashboard scoring system is interactive and will help both Advisers and licensees staff to better understand key strengths and weaknesses among peers.

Click to Access The Adviser Dashboards