How many advisers left in 2023?

Wealth Data has shared the net movement of advisers seen in the financial advice industry during 2023.

For the calendar year, there was a net loss of 177 advisers which was significantly smaller than in previous years. 

This brought the final tally for the year to 15,622, although there have been 15 advisers join since the start of 2024. 

Looking at subsectors, only the accounting-financial planning firms, which are owned by accounting groups and provide holistic advice, that saw a gain. This was driven by new licensees previously aligned with a larger licensee. 

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While accounting-financial planning saw the biggest gains, accounting-limited advice saw the largest loss with a downturn of 8.6 per cent. 

This was followed by superannuation funds which reduced by 5.1 per cent, despite plans by Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones for super funds to provide advice to their members. 

Some 113 new licensees commenced and all but two of them, Wealth Data said, had less than 10 advisers. This highlights the trend for advisers to move away from large licensees to set up their own micro-AFSLs, a theme predicted to continue in 2024.

The largest licensee was AMP, which leapfrogged Insignia at the end of the year, followed by Insignia, WT Financial and Centrepoint. 

Despite their high ranking, both AMP and Insignia reported losses, with AMP down by 52 advisers and Insignia down by 287 advisers. WT Financial was up by 92 advisers and Centrepoint was up by six. 

Fortnum Private Wealth was also highlighted for its growth, up by 157 advisers during the year, to see the largest positive change in advisers across all licensees. 

TAL and Australian Unity both ceased with zero advisers – TAL down by 119 and Australian Unity down by 179. This is a result of TAL’s financial advice arm Affinia being acquired by Count, and Australian Unity being acquired by Fortnum.