Since IOOF announced plans to purchase MLC in August 2020, the combined loss of advisers for IOOF/MLC group amounted to 252, placing the group right behind AMP Group which over the same time lost 261 advisers, according to HFS Consulting’s analysis.
On top of that, Money Management reported earlier this week the migration of MLC advisers to IOOF hit another obstacle as Count Financial announced it had snapped three new firms which previously operated under MLC and IOOF licenses, including Godfrey Pembroke.
“A lot of people are watching the numbers at IOOF and MLC but again this week we saw reductions for both groups with licensees Lonsdale Financial Group, GWM Adviser Services Limited and Bridges Financial Services all recording losses,” HFS’ director Colin Williams said.
Commenting on the key trends this week, he said while the losses slowed since the first half of 2020, there was still a net loss of 73 advisers roles year-to-date.
“This indicates that some 90 Advisers have exited. To put this into perspective, a licensee with 90 Advisers would be the 48th largest in the country,” Williams noted.
Additionally, this week’s analysis of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) Financial Adviser Register (FAR), showed a reduction of (-23) adviser roles from to 20,906, while the number of actual advisers was reduced by (-21) falling from to 20,569.
As far as losses for the week were concerned, Aware Super posted a net loss of five adviser roles and was followed by GWM Adviser Services and Lonsdale Financial Group with each posting a loss of four advisers.
Also, Bedford CA Captial which is an accounting firm effectively closed their licence with all three advisers now ‘ceased’, according to the FAR. However, the firm said, all three remained at Bedford in their capacity as accountants.
“As mentioned previously, we expect to see more of this through 2021 as many firms who do not specialise in financial advice will decide to exit the burden of holding the Australian Financial Services (AFS) licence,” Williams said.
