Instos abandoned in droves as adviser numbers slip below 20k

The latest Adviser Ratings data showed that 112 advisers left the industry in the week to 24 June, with total numbers on the adviser register now at 19,651.

Comparing adviser numbers at the industry’s peak in December 2018, the biggest losers continued to be institutional licensees, with AMP Financial Planning now down 50 per cent from 1,414 advisers to 712 advisers.

Financial Services Partners, which the IOOF group is in the process of shutting down, had shrunk 90 per cent from 155 advisers in December 2018 to 16 in June this year, while super fund advice provider Mercer had lost 27 per cent of its advisers, down from 61 in December 2018 to 48 in June 2021.

Other groups had experienced more modest losses, with Synchron adviser numbers dropping from 507 in December 2018 to 461 in June 2021, while IOOF dealer group Bridges had shrunk from 198 advisers at the end of 2018 to 181 in June this year.

New Zealand group Craigs Investment Partners had also seen a drop of 13 per cent from 99 advisers in December 2018 to 86 in June 2021.

When it came to the big winners from adviser movements, Viridian Advisory, which was the major beneficiary of Westpac’s divestment from advice, had grown 235 per cent since the end of 2018, up to 154 advisers in June from 46 in December 2018.

Centrepoint Alliance had also seen significant new adviser sign-ups since IOOF’s purchase of MLC in particular, with adviser numbers for the group’s Alliance Wealth licensee soaring 47 per cent from 142 in December 2018 to 208 in June 2021.

Industry fund Energy Super had also slightly increased its adviser numbers from 13 in December 2018 to 14 in June 2021.