The licensee at the top of organic adviser growth for 2024

Centrepoint Alliance currently holds first place for organic adviser growth this year-to-date, as it welcomed nine advisers this week alone.

In the week ending 21 March, the licensee owner’s advice network grew by net nine advisers, according to Wealth Data.

“The increase of nine advisers now has Centrepoint as positive 25 [advisers] for calendar YTD and the leading ‘organic’ growth licensee owner,” observed Colin Williams, Wealth Data founder.

Eight of these advisers joined its licensee Alliance Wealth, with four coming from WT Financial-owned Millennium3 while one adviser each joined from Oreana, Count Financial, Charter (AMP Group), and Insight Investment Services, respectively.

Meanwhile, one new entrant commenced at Centrepoint’s firm, Matrix Planning Solutions.

Announcing its 1H24 results last month, the company reported a 63 per cent net profit after tax (NPAT) growth and signalled that it is looking for acquisitions through firms in its licensee network.

John Shuttleworth, Centrepoint chief executive, said the business is “looking in its own backyard” for additional growth across its 536 licensed and self-licensed firms in the Centrepoint network.

At the time of its ASX results, the firm had 1,338 advisers made up of 518 licensed advisers and 206 self-licensed firms representing 820 advisers.

Centrepoint also acquired Brisbane financial advice firm Financial Advice Matters (FAM) in December – boosting its numbers by 19 advisers.

Weekly movements

This week saw a minor net rise of two advisers, offsetting the previous five consecutive weeks of decline or no growth in adviser numbers.

The financial advice profession sits at 15,620 currently. Across the week, four new entrants joined the industry while 79 advisers were active with appointments or resignations.

Examining the weekly growth, 24 licensee owners had net gains of 36 advisers.

Australian Administration Services (Link Group), which focuses on providing advisers to superannuation funds, saw the second-highest growth after Centrepoint with a rise of net three advisers.

Both Capstone Financial Planning and Havana Financial Services grew by two advisers each, and a tail of 20 licensees were up by net one each including Insignia Financial and Ord Minnett.

Looking at the weekly declines, 25 licensee owners had net losses of 33 advisers in total.

AMG Group, Count Financial, and WT Financial Group all declined by net three advisers each, while Macquarie Group and Sequoia lost net two each.

Some 20 licensee owners were down by net one each, including Shaw and Partners, NTAA, and Spark Partnership.