Adviser losses to ‘offset’ new entrant gains

The latest weekly numbers for 2024 from Wealth Data, the final ones for the year, show the industry is so far reporting a loss of 108 for the year with more exits likely as the year closes out.

However, this is an improvement from 2023 when 140 left the industry.

Colin Williams, founder of Wealth Data, said: “We are expecting more new entrants to join the FAR, but the last week of December is popular for retirements and advisers resigning who will often join a new licensee at the start of a new year. The losses are likely to offset the gains from new entrants.”

On a weekly basis, the sector saw a gain of eight advisers during the week to 19 December, which brought adviser numbers to 15,515.

Some 33 licensee owners had net gains of 35 advisers, and 19 licensee owners had net losses of 25 advisers. One new licensee commenced and one ceased operation.

There were 16 new entrants during the week, double the volume in the previous two weeks, and likely the result of the recent Australian Securities and Investments Commission advice exam results.

Count and Beryllium Advisers were both up by two advisers, and a long tail of licensees were up by net one, including UniSuper, Sequoia, Lifespan and Bell Financial Group.

In terms of losses, Insignia was down by four who all left Bridges and none of them have yet been appointed elsewhere. Rhombus was also down by three, one of whom joined CT Group Advisory Services, while the other two are yet to be appointed elsewhere.

Morgan Stanley and NAB Bank were both down by two, and a tail of 14 licensees, including Infocus and WT Financial Group, were down by one each.