The advice industry has dropped by triple digits for the third week in a row, this time falling by 149 advisers to 16,639, according to Wealth Data.
The decline in advisers was driven by licensees effectively closing to zero advisers with a further 49 licensees closing, accounting for a loss of 87 advisers. This brought year to date closures to 208, more than double the number for the previous corresponding period, which was 97.
Wealth Data founder, Colin Williams, said adviser losses were continuing to be backdated into 2021.
“It will be interesting to see if the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) will take any action against the licensees that have not reported correctly – [those which] should have reported advisers as ‘ceased’ within 30 days of 31 December, 2021,” he said.
Leading the losses for the week was the NTAA (SMSF Advisers Network), down 26 advisers with New Zealand based Craigs Investment losing all 16 of its advisers.
Overall, the number of licensees dropped to 1,987.
“What may be surprising to some is that the number of single adviser licensees is sitting at 631. Much lower than what it was in 2021 when it was nudging 800, but still quite a high number.”
On a more positive note, nine new Professional Year advisers started this week.
Growth by licensee was limited to only 20 licensee owners with AIA Company Ltd picking up a net four advisers and Michael Walker (Walker Capital Private Wealth) also bumping up by four.
