Large AFSLs holding off adviser decline

Ord Minnett, Count Financial, and Industry Fund Services topped the list for largest net growth in their number of financial advisers last year.

Ord Minnett increased its numbers by 39 advisers (16 per cent), Count Financial had a net gain of 31 (12 per cent), and Industry Fund Services increased by 22 (24 per cent), according to Rainmaker Information’s Financial Adviser Report.

These organisations also topped the list for the number of newly registered advisers to their AFSL.

“We are continuing to see adviser numbers decrease overall, however, the largest AFSLs with more than 250 advisers, perhaps due their scale, seem to be coping better in the current climate,” said Alex Dunnin, executive director of research and compliance at Rainmaker Information.

“Adviser groups with between 100 and 250 advisers had a 25 per cent reduction in total advisers, but the largest AFSLs (more than 250 advisers) experienced just a 5 per cent reduction. AFSLs with two or less advisers suffered a 28 per cent fall in adviser numbers.”

The top six organisations in terms of largest net growth were all AFSLs with between 100 to 500 advisers, with Alliance Wealth, Interprac Financial Planning, and Matrix Planning Solutions rounding out this group.

Despite some AFSLs seeing growth, the total number of advisers continued to fall towards the end of 2022, with 15,529 advisers as at 31 December 2022.

This was a 17 per cent reduction in the calendar year, bringing total adviser numbers to the lowest level in 19 years.

AMP financial planning, with 546 advisers, is still the largest AFSL.

“While the advice industry has experienced a great deal of uncertainty, with a significant reduction in advisers leaving, there are still AFSLs looking to expand their operations,” said Mr Dunnin.

“We’re also seeing a shift where non-aligned AFSLs are experiencing a slightly higher percentage decline than bank-aligned AFSLs.”

Non-aligned AFSLs saw a reduction of 17.6 per cent in their adviser numbers in 2022 compared with 16.8 per cent for aligned AFSLs.

This is a drastic change from 2021, when non-aligned AFSLs saw a reduction of 5.2 per cent in their adviser numbers compared with 18 per cent for aligned AFSLs.

The total number of AFSLs fell 11 per cent in 2022 to reach 1,611.