Dealer groups not consolidating

The 10 largest dealer groups in Australia added 475 advisers during the year to March 31, maintaining their previous year’s share of advisers in the Top 100 dealer groups at 50 per cent, or 6,773 out of a total 13,660.

The statistics, drawn from Money Management’s annual Top 100 Dealer Groups survey, cast doubt over predictions by some major dealer group principals that a consolidation of advisers from small to large dealers is underway. However, that supposed trend is tipped to accelerate this year.

The big dealer groups believe consolidation will be driven partly by the growing incidence of small dealers giving up their licences under the weight of higher compliance standards and falling margins.

National Australia Bank Financial Planning added more advisers by far than any other group during the year, to claim sixth position in this year’s rankings.

It added 124 advisers during the year, bringing its total to 476 from 352, and rising six places from its 12th rank in last year’s Top 100 survey.

Professional Investment Services, which posted the next highest increase after NAB, added 52 advisers from 1,142 last year to 1,194, retaining its second place ranking in this year’s Top 100 survey.

Count Financial Services shed 57 advisers this year to 943, retaining its third place ranking, while Commonwealth Financial Planning added 19 advisers to 639, improving its ranking to fourth, from 7th position last year.

Westpac Financial Planning dropped one place in this year’s rankings to fifth place, one position ahead of NAB, after shedding 34 advisers during the year.

The five big banks (and their various subsidiaries) collectively have a total of 3,883,or 28.43 per cent of the total Top 100 advisers.

However, aside from the 124 advisers added by NAB Financial Planning (not including its subsidiary dealer groups), the big five banks experienced a relatively small net gain of financial planners between them this year.

Overall, this year’s survey showed that adviser numbers are slightly up on last year, with a total of 13,660 advisers in the Top 100 Dealer Groups — an increase of about 6 per cent. This reverses last year’s trend which saw a loss of over 1,200 advisers, largely a result of the compliance demands coming from Financial Services Reform, which weeded out the less robust practices.