Data from Wealth Data reported a net change of -149 advisers in the week to 29 September with the total number of losses even higher at 172 from 81 licensees. However, this was countered by 19 licensee owners who had net gains of 23 advisers.
Four licensees- Walker Lane, Capstone, Birds Holdings and Chris Brycki- were up by two advisers while 15 licensees were up by one adviser.
AMP Group, which last week was set to fall below 1,000 advisers, dropped to 998 this week.
Merit was down by 89 advisers, Diverger down 14 and Ord Minnett down 13. WT Financial Group lost 26, including 24 from Synchron, but it also appointed three resulting in a net change of 23.
Eight provisional advisers commenced and none ceased, marking a month of gains for the category.
Founder Colin Williams said: “Losses were very high and we believe the vast majority are due to the non-passing of the financial adviser exam. We suspect that we will see more losses in the coming weeks for the same reason.
“Licensees have 30 days to report adviser movement and advisers who needed to pass the exam had to do so by 30 September.”
