Over 100 new advice licensees commenced this year

Six new financial advice licensees have begun operations this week and zero ceased, with more than 100 licensee owners commencing in 2023 alone. 

The half-dozen new licensees commencing in the week to 9 November bring the total to 14 over the past three weeks, according to Colin Williams, Wealth Data founder. 

Some 103 new licensees have opened their doors in 2023 so far. Just four have 10 or more advisers, while an overwhelming 95 have five or less advisers. 

Williams remarked on how the term ‘micro-AFSLs’ has flourished: “It was a simple way to describe the typical new licensee (AFSL) that we see each week being created, with another six this week alone. 

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“The ‘micro’ represents the fact that they are very small in terms of the number of advisers attached to the licensee. In our opinion, this helps to differentiate from ‘self-licensed’ which is also often used.”

In October, Money Management reported that licensees were opening faster than they were closing. Licensees with less than 20 advisers have grown by over 200 since the start of the year. 

The number of licensees which ceased fell from 337 in 2022 to just 47 in October 2023, demonstrating that new advice licensees are opening at a quicker rate than those shutting their doors. 

Looking at the weekly figures, the advice profession saw a net decrease of eight advisers in the week to 9 November. 

This was despite the addition of eight new entrants, indicating that 16 experienced advisers left the industry.

These weekly losses bring the net change this calendar year to date to -117, with 15,682 advisers remaining overall.

Last week’s decrease of 11 advisers saw the number of advisers who exited the field reach triple figures for the first time in 2023 at 109.

However, the year-to-date losses were far smaller than this time last year as 1,328 exited during 2022. 

This week, 23 licensee owners had net gains of 29 advisers. Six licensees welcomed two advisers each, which included Shaw and Partners, Boston Wealth, Concord Licensee Services and Alman Partners.

Some 17 licensees grew by one adviser each, such as Clime Group and AMP Group.

In terms of losses, 22 licensee owners had declines of 34 advisers in total. FinancialLink (NextGen) lost five advisers, meaning just four remain at the licensee.

Capstone and Dirigere Advisory were both down by three advisers each, while five licensees lost two each including Findex, PictureWealth, Mancell Trust (FYG Planners) and Diverger.

Some 15 licensees lost one adviser each, such as Centrepoint, WT Financial and Australian Unity.