Insignia v Entireti: Competing philosophies for building a business

While the profession continues to see consolidation at the top, a new report from Adviser Ratings has compared the business model of Insignia and Entireti and how they are shaping the professional landscape.

Looking at two of the largest licensees, Insignia and Entireti, Adviser Ratings’ quarterly Q2 2025 Musical Chairs Report dug into how these firms have approached their business restructuring in the wake of the royal commission.

Namely, the report explained that Entireti has gone “all-in on the power of scale”, choosing to consolidate several legacy licensees into a single group. Meanwhile, Insignia is “playing a more complex game” by curating and diversifying its advice brands, creating an ecosystem with multiple options.

The report said: “These aren’t just abstract corporate strategies; they represent the biggest shake-up of the advice profession in a generation, and the results will likely define the profession for years to come.”

As the landscape continues to evolve, Adviser Ratings said these different business philosophies are having a considerable impact on what options are available for both advisers and their clients.

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Entireti

Established in April 2024, Entrieti was created following Fortnum Private Wealth and AZ NGA-owned Nestworth Financial Strategists’ joint acquisition of Professional Financial Services the previous year to act as a parent company of the combined firms.

Then, in August 2024, AMP announced it would sell its advice licensees – AMP Financial Planning, Hillross and Charter Financial Planning, as well as its self-licensed offering Jigsaw to Entireti, later completed in December, with AMP retaining a 30 per cent stake and AZ NGA buying out AMP’s ownership in 16 advice practices.

This addition substantially increased Entireti’s adviser base, with it currently having more than 1,000 advisers which makes it Australia’s largest advice AFSL by a significant margin.

This month, it announced it had acquired Insignia’s self-licensed offering IOOF Alliances which it has merged with Jigsaw to form a new entity called Entireti Alliances.

With the cost of operating an advice business now so high, Adviser Ratings said Entireti’s consolidated structure centralises the cost of compliance, tech, and governance under one roof.

Notably, the report explained that by separating the licensee services from practice ownership, the group has created an “institutional-lite” model, particularly following the acquisition of a self-licensed practice support program, IOOF Alliances, from Insignia.

“Entireti is now in a position to provide its own and self-licensed practices the back-office support of a large licensee, but without the conflicts of interest that arise from being owned by a product manufacturer. The whole play is a straightforward bet that one huge, focused advice community is the recipe for success.”

Insignia

At the other end of the spectrum, Insignia appears to be building a diversified ecosystem of practices, which Adviser Ratings suggested could be a reflection of the independence that is so highly valued in the advice profession.

Last year, it restructured its financial advisers in Bridges and Shadforth as salaried advisers and self-employed Consultum, RI Advice, and TenFifty into Rhombus Advisory. 

With the restructure, Rhombus Advisory has 476 advisers, while Insignia has 209 and Godfrey Pembroke has 59. 
As the group restructures, the report recognised four key areas of focus to achieve this which are consolidation, defining the brands, partnering up, and becoming a service provider.

In particular, it noted the closing or merging of licences that are “no longer effective”, the pending closures of Lonsdale licence and Actuate, as well as the refinement of its brands’ workplace structuring and client bases to create “clearer pathways for various types of advisers and customers”.

The report suggested Insignia is “leaning into the profession’s shift towards independence”, while largely pivoting the firm away from direct ownership or support of adviser-owned practices to a strategy of product distribution through partnerships.

“The go-forward strategy is clearly focused on growth through product sales, by aiming to drive up adviser efficiency through technology support and platform upgrades. It will enable Insignia to generate scalable, lower-risk revenue by being a key supplier to the independent advice movement that is reshaping the profession,” the report said.

Comparing the two models, Adviser Ratings said Entireti offers advisers the benefit of a large group, whether that be lower costs or better technology options, with the ability to build equity in their businesses with a capital partner via AZ NGA. However, it is yet to determine whether all the different business parts can operate cohesively together. 

On the other hand, Insignia’s shift to a product-first strategy allows its clients to benefit from a tight advice/product integration.

The report said: “One thing that does seem clear is that the middle ground is disappearing. Both strategies suggest that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to survive as a mid-sized, institutionally owned licensee that lacks massive scale or a unique specialty, where a practice’s owner can choose to move licensees at any time.”