Almost 2,750 adviser roles gone in 2020
The financial services sector is ending this year with a loss of 2,739 adviser roles, of which 2,171 were shed in the first six months of the year as the losses post July have slowed down, according to data from HFS Consulting.
Following this, the single largest financial planning group, AMP Financial Planning, has seen a departure of 315 roles year to date and is currently only two roles ahead of SMSF Adviser Network, the second largest licensee by financial adviser numbers.
In total, AMP Group lost more than 500 roles year to date and was followed by Commonwealth Bank and MLC Group, which lost 312 and 246, respectively. At the same time, IOOF which announced the acquisition of MLC Wealth in August this year followed by a number of changes to its financial advice business, suffered altogether a loss of 194 adviser roles.
As of the third week of December, the biggest 10 financial planning groups were as below:
Source HFS Consulting
The biggest licensee owners by adviser numbers:
Source HFS Consulting
According to data from HFS, Lifespan remained out in front with 66 new roles created year to date. GWM Adviser Services also recorded a net gain of 66 roles however the firm had 156 roles transferred to their licence from NAB Bank. Following this, Interprac Financial Planning and Sentry gained 39 and 32 roles, respectively.
Source HFS Consulting
Recommended for you
It can be extremely hard to realise the gains from financial advice M&A, according to Peloton Partners’ Rob Jones, and more could be gained from firms looking inward at their own practice.
With platforms reporting their quarterly results, there is a clear divide in the adviser markets they are targeting, according to platform specialist Recep Peker, and which would be right for your clients.
The Federal Court has imposed a $10 million penalty on Macquarie Bank for failing to prevent and control unauthorised fee transactions by third parties including financial advisers.
A financial advice firm has seen a weekly decline of 10 advisers, with all moving to a new licensee, while Centrepoint Alliance continues its “growth story”.