Insignia loses over 100 advisers as it continues to ‘refine’ advice offering

According to Wealth Data, the latest Financial Advisers Register figures have shown a significant slump in Insignia-licensed advisers, with a drop of 24 recorded the week to 21 September. Almost all of the losses came from its subsidiary, Bridges, which lost 23 advisers over the last week.

“At this stage, none are showing as being appointed elsewhere, and we are not sure if they have been ‘let go’ by Insignia or being transitioned. Insignia via Consultum did authorise two new entrants,” said Wealth Data founder Colin Williams.

Either way, he pointed to a “mounting” exodus at Insignia.

“As disclosed by Insignia a short while ago, they are re-evaluating their advice offer, and we can expect further disruption over the coming weeks/months.”

In August, the licensee was bullish on its advice restructure, which included a new partnership model for its self-employed licensees comprising RI Advice Group, Consultum Financial Advisers, and TenFifty.

Insignia Financial chief executive Renato Mota said at the time: “This is a transformational initiative for our advice offering and will accelerate the return to profitability of our advice business, while ensuring our advice services model is positioned for sustainable growth.”

Responding to an ifa enquiry on Thursday, a spokesperson for Insignia reiterated that "deliberate and decisive steps" taken during the year to "refine and realign" its advice offering have impacted numbers.

"From these initiatives, we saw a reduction in adviser numbers due to the closure of the Lonsdale licence and the integration of MLC Advice into Bridges and subsequent reshaping of the service proposition".

Insignia reported a total of 1,413 advisers across its network at the end of June, which comprised 461 practices.

Regarding the financial aspect, the company reported a net revenue of $204.6 million. However, this was offset by expenses totalling $240.5 million, ultimately leading to an EBITDA loss of $35.9 million for FY2023.

However, Insignia explained at the time that the integration of MLC Advice into Bridges had stabilised its professional services channel. This involved a temporary reduction in revenue, as the advice service proposition underwent a reshaping and low fee-paying clients were moved off fixed term service agreements.

Wealth Data’s analysis of the year-to-date shows that Insignia is now down 112 advisers, which is comfortably outstripping the losses seen by AMP, which has the next highest loss at 40.

In February, AMP had topped the charts for adviser losses over the preceding three months with a net loss of 32, while Insignia had lost just 17 over the same period. Since that point, the exodus has rapidly increased.

Overall, in the week to 21 September, Wealth Data reported a net loss in adviser numbers of 30 – the largest since the start of the financial year.

This has brought the current number of advisers to 15,679, following a year-to-date total decline of 119.