Education deadline to prompt steep upcoming adviser drops

Adviser Ratings’ Q3 2025 Musical Chairs report has revealed that almost 400 advisers joined the Financial Adviser Register (FAR) in the last quarter, bolstering the profession as it prepares for significant losses in December.

According to the industry report, 389 individuals hit the Financial Adviser Register (FAR) during this period, including 184 new advisers and the return of 237 advisers who had previously ceased practicing.

Notably, Q3 typically sees the highest growth each year, having brought in at least 100 new advisers this period for four consecutive years, with this year falling just behind the high of 189 in Q3 2024 which saw the greatest inflow since at least 2019.

This growth was hindered, however, by 195 advisers exiting the profession over the quarter, bringing the quarterly net growth down to 196 and the overall profession to a total of 15,447, up from 15,251 in Q2.

However, any growth seen this year is likely to be wiped out by future losses in the upcoming two quarters, driven by the 1 January education deadline.

ARdata estimated that 545 advisers are a high risk of leaving the profession, while a further 583 are a medium to high risk, based on the number of advisers that have incomplete information of the FAR or still require further education. This brings total possible losses to 1,128, slightly higher than earlier predictions made by the Financial Advice Association Australia (FAAA).  

Come the end of 2025, financial advisers who wish to continue operating are required to meet either the experience or education requirements. Those advisers who fail to do so and are still named on the Financial Advisers Register (FAR) on 1 January will be required to not only complete the education requirements but also undergo the professional year (PY).

On top of this, the report noted that another 1,884 advisers also have incomplete records, though it suggested that these were advisers whose licensees were still in the process of updating their FAR records.

The report added: “Given Treasury recently indicated no movement on the education pathways for a degree in any discipline to qualify before the 1 January 2026 deadline, succession planning, mergers or sale, or moving into the wholesale or the general advice space will be the natural step for these advisers.”

Although the number of ceased advisers was the lowest since the report began in Q1 2019, Adviser Ratings said it was concerning to see that a third of those who exited in Q3 2025 were female, though this loss was slightly offset by 51 new female entrants.

The ceased advisers also showed a potential shift in the market, however, with 44 being directors of practices, which the report said could be “signalling early indicators of leadership and ownership changes across the advice landscape”.

Looking at the adviser split across the various licensee models, there was minimal shifts in this regard as privately-owned licensees with 1-10 advisers continued to capture the largest portion of the market (28.5 per cent), closely followed by larger licensees with more than 100 advisers (27.2 per cent).

The diversified adviser segment continued to shrink, dropping 603 advisers or just 40 practices (0.7 per cent) of the 5,934 currently making up the advice practice landscape.

Banks and limited practices also continued their slow decline, with just 3 and 33 practices, respectively, now operating in these spaces.

Marking a slight decline from the previous quarter, Q3 saw some 19 licensees cease operations, the majority of which had been in business for more than a decade and 63 per cent were privately owned licensees with fewer than 10 advisers.

Shifting licensee models has not hindering the rate of new licensees emerging, however, with 18 commencing in Q3, bringing the net change for the year to 30 September to a net loss of just one.