Adviser numbers tick up following latest exam results

According to Wealth Data, there was a net gain of 15 advisers for the week ending 30 March, including nine new entrants to the industry, taking the total increase this year to 64. 

The total number of advisers on the Financial Advisers Register (FAR) now sits at 15,870.

Commenting on the data, Wealth Data founder Colin Williams said: “A net gain of 15 driven by nine new entrants and a small number of advisers reappearing on the FAR as current, most likely due to passing the financial (FASEA) exam. 

“We tend to see a surge in new entrants in the first few weeks of the financial exam results being released, which occurred last week.”

On Monday, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) released the results of the 20th Financial Advisers Exam cycle, which was conducted in February 2023 and administered by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). 

Out of 192 candidates who sat the February exam, 128 candidates (67 per cent) passed, and 60 per cent of those candidates were taking the exam for the first time.

MWL Group saw the largest growth by an individual licensee for the week ending 30 March, with two former MWL advisers rejoining the group after leaving the FAR in September 2022.

Mutual Trust added two new entrants to its ranks, while Shaw and Partners, Castleguard Trust (Capstone), AAN Wealth, and Insignia were among 25 licensee owners that had a net growth of one adviser. One new licensee also commenced with a single returning adviser.

Janus Group — which lost an adviser from both Akambo and First Financial — and Perpetual were down two advisers for the week.

Bombora, Fiducian, Count, Centrepoint, and WT Financial Group were among 10 licensee owners down one adviser each.

The results follow up a net loss of five advisers the previous week.