Forthe first time in five years, fund manager and bank owned dealer groups have dropped the number of planners and dealer groups they hold, according to this year’sMoney ManagementTop 100 Dealer Groups survey.
Last year banks and fund managers held 9,560 planners or 70 per cent of the market represented in the Top 100, but have dropped to 9,045 planners, or 63.1 per cent, with a fall in the number of dealer groups from 54 to 39.
Making up the gains were the privately held, listed or adviser and director owned dealers who increased from 42 dealers to 54 and increased planner numbers from 4,300 to 4,735, outstripping the growth for the entire Top 100.
These non-institutionally held advisers grew by 435 advisers or 5.1 per cent, while the overall growth figure for the whole Top 100 was only 284 or about 2 per cent.
Despite the slide in numbers for the big end of town,AMPstill holds the title as the biggest dealer group in the country with 1,433 planners, a slight decrease of 37 from last year. It is the third year AMP has lost advisers for a total loss over the three years of 197.
Professional Investment Services(PIS) andCount Wealth Accountantshave also held on to their second and third places with 1,309 and 1,100 advisers respectively, both posting minor increases over last year.
The biggest loss of advisers was suffered byTandem Financial Advicewhich this year posted 72 advisers afterINGmerged Lynx, Partnership Planning and AustAdvisers into Tandem in August last year. The three groups collectively held 281 advisers last year, a loss of 209 across the ING owned group.
The big winners includeAon Financial Planningpicking up 82 advisers andABN Amropicking up 288 after teaming with JP Morgan.
Commonwealth Financial Planning, the first bank-based group at fourth in the table, also picked up 94 advisers stemming the outflow of last year when it and Commonwealth Financial Solutions, now part ofFinancial Wisdom, lost 250 advisers.
Financial Wisdom and the combinedSecuritor/Pactgroup were the only groups to enter the top 10 dealers this year, with AMP Financial Planning, Count Wealth Accountants, Commonwealth Financial Planning,AXA Financial PlanningandWestpac Financial Planningall securing a top 10 position for the fifth consecutive year. PIS andCharterdid the same for the fourth year.
