Financial adviser numbers fall across Australia for seventh consecutive quarter

THE NUMBER of registered financial advisers in Australia decreased 16 percent through the 12 months to June 2020, dropping to 22,334 in total, according to Rainmaker Information’s Financial Adviser Report.

During the June quarter, 556 financial advisers registered with new licensees while 1,460 ceased registrations. This resulted in a total number of advisers, joining new licensees for the year, od 3,997.

Rainmaker Information executive director of research, Alex Dunnin said further analysis of these results indicated that nearly 7,500 advisers ceased registrations with a licensee in the same time period. This number is down 14 percent from the previous 12-month period of June 2019. 

“These movements continue to follow the trend that the financial advice industry has experienced since the release of recommendations from the Royal Commission,” Mr Dunnin said. 

“This was followed by tighter education requirements and exams mandated by the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority, while COVID-19 has no doubt impacted the industry as well.

“This is the seventh consecutive quarter of decreasing financial adviser numbers, bringing the size of the industry back to June 2016 numbers," he said.

“Financial advisers aligned to banks continue to exit the industry in greater numbers, falling 25 percent in the 12 months to June.”

Institutional or bank-aligned licensees account for 52 percent of advisers, down from 58 percent a year ago. Non-institutionally owned licensees now hold 48 percent of advisers, up from 42 percent through the same period.

The five licensees with the largest number of new advisers are State Super Financial Services, Fortnum Private Wealth, Synchron, Lifespan Financial Planning and Interprac Financial Planning.

 

About Rainmaker Information

Rainmaker Information is a privately held Australian company founded in 1992. The company has established a reputation as a leading financial services information publishing house in Australia providing marketing intelligence, research and consulting services on the wealth management industry and forms part of the Rainmaker Group of companies.
www.rainmaker.com.au

 

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