Large licensees capitalise on the consolidation trend for adviser growth

Following the exit of the ‘big six’ from advice, Padua Wealth Data founder Colin Williams said a growing trend of consolidation has created the perfect opportunity for the industry’s largest licensees to grow.

In the wake of the royal commission in 2019, the advice industry saw the big four banks exit the space, with Insignia and AMP following suit in recent years, leaving a vacuum at the top to fill.

Speaking with Money Management, Williams estimated that the so-called ‘big six’ used to account for around 75 per cent of advisers. 

After years of readjustment in the industry, he said it seems as though some of the bigger groups in the industry have had a chance to “catch their break and steady the ship”, laying the groundwork for them to grow.

“If you look at the big groups, they have been subject to an immense amount of change. So, while the banks dropped out, many of the advisers joined other groups, and just everything became very fluid,” Williams said.

“I think that the major groups, they’ve really steadied into ship, and I think that’s really helping them right now.”

The top three advice firms in terms of adviser growth since the start of the financial year all already have more than 475 advisers in place, indicating the big are getting bigger.

WT Financial Group has gained 22, Count has gained 15, and Rhombus Advisory has gained 12. Rhombus now has 483 advisers, WT Financial has 524, and Count is fast-approaching 600 advisers with 597.

Entireti has remained the largest licensee following its split off from AMP last year, with some 1,106 advisers, although it has only gained eight since the start of the financial year.  

But even as these large licensees continue to expand, Williams said it’s unlikely they will see the level of top-heavy concentration like the big six did in the past, though he expects there will be further consolidation as practices seek cost benefits and scalability.

“Irrespective of if you’re running your own AFSL, and you’ve got a small practice, or if you’re part of a large group and running your own practice, I think it’s becoming beneficial there to increase the size of that practice. Advisers had support staff to make them more cost effective,” he said.

Weekly movements

Looking at the changes this week, there was a net loss of six advisers, bringing the total down to 15,441 for the week ending 16 October as the profession struggles to maintain steady growth.

This loss pulls the net gains for the financial year to date down slightly to 269, while the net losses for the calendar year to date go back up to 31.

Some nine new entrants joined the Financial Adviser Register (FAR) this week, breaking 15 straight weeks of double-digit weekly entrants. Just one new licensee commenced this week, while two ceased, and some 67 advisers were active in appointments and resignations.

In the weekly movements, 19 licensees saw a net gain of 24 advisers, with Entireti up by net four and seeing the biggest increase this week. Though it lost one adviser to FF Solutions and another that is yet to be appointed elsewhere, Entireti picked up one each at Charter and Akumin, while two joined Fortnum Private, including one as a provisional adviser.

FMD Financial was up by net three this week, all of whom switched from Alliance Wealth, and a tail of 17 licensees were up by net one adviser each, including Lifespan, Rhombus, and Findex.

On the other end of the spectrum, Morgan Stanley and Centrepoint Group were both down by net four, including those lost to FMD Financial, with the rest yet to be appointed elsewhere.

Endeavor Asset Management and Fiducian Financial Group were both down by net two advisers each, all of whom are yet to be reappointed, while a tail of 17 licensees were down by net one adviser each, including Capstone, WT Financial Group, and ART Group Services.