Non-aligned advisers are half of industry

Non-aligned advisers occupy far more space in the financial planning landscape than many believe, with research conducted by Money Management indicating they make up one in every two registered and licensed financial planners.

The Money Management 2015 Top 100 Financial Planning Group survey found that AMP and the big four banks — ANZ, CBA, NAB and Westpac — collectively held 57.2 per cent of financial planners in the Top 100, but actually only held 40.6 per cent of all financial planners

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The total institutional ownership figure climbs to 70.7 per cent of planners within the Top 100 when all the institutions which license advisers, such as IOOF, Australian Unity and Macquarie, are also included, but only equate to 50.2 per cent of advisers in the wider sector.

While the institutions hold a dominant position in the 2015 Top 100 Survey data, it only covers around 15,000 planners and not the total group of planners operating within the wider financial advice sector.

Estimates of that number have varied widely from around 18,000 to more than 22,500 for a number of years but were confirmed to be the higher of the two with the rollout of the Financial Adviser Register (FAR) by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) earlier this year.

The ASIC FAR and Money Management Top 100 Survey data both point to a level of total institutional control in the entire planning sector of around 50 per cent of advisers with control by AMP and the four major banks at around 40 per cent of advisers.

This wider context provided by the FAR shows institutional control of financial planning is about one in every two planners and dismantles the popular statement that AMP and the big four own or control 80 per cent of financial planners.

Top 100 Institutional Ownership