New entrants yet to offset adviser losses

In what has been a quiet week for adviser resignations and appointments, at only 45, the latest figures from Wealth Data paint a more consistent picture for new entrants to the Financial Advisers Register (FAR), with an uptick of five for the third week in a row.

What's more, this year has seen 144 new entrants, compared to only 92 for the same period last year.

Wealth Data identified AMP Group as the frontrunner with 14 new entrants in 2023, followed by Diverger with seven. Meanwhile, Perpetual, Insignia, FSSSP (Aware Super), and APT Wealth Holdings have each welcomed five new entrants this year.

The year 2023 has also seen adviser gains for Diverger (up four) and APT Wealth (up five) against the backdrop of new entrant upticks of seven and five, respectively.

However, the industry saw a net loss of 14 advisers this week.

As such, some companies have struggled to keep up with the adviser outflows that have remained volatile throughout the year.

This week alone, Count had the greatest net reduction (five) after combining the firm’s losses with its subsidiary Affinia. According to Wealth Data, a portion of the downturn came from management roles.

Moreover, five licensee owners each had a net loss of two advisers, including Findex, Steinhardt (Infocus), and Insignia. Meanwhile, 12 licensee owners are down one adviser this week, including AMP, Fortnum, Perpetual, and WT Financial Group.

On the flip side, 13 licensee owners had net gains of 13 advisers, with United Super (Cbus), Spark Partnership, Sequoia, and Centrepoint among them.

According to Wealth data, no new licensees started, but one ceased operations this week.

Earlier this month, Adviser Ratings’ Musical Chairs Report held the promise of renewal for the industry, reporting a small increase in adviser numbers for the first quarter of 2023, moving from 15,833 to 15,857.

While a net increase of 24 advisers was not a large figure, it reversed an exceptionally negative trend that began in 2018.