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
A financial advice firm has been penalised $11 million in the Federal Court for providing ‘cookie cutter advice’ to its clients and breaching conflicted remuneration rules.
Insignia Financial has experienced total quarterly net outflows of $1.8 billion as a result of client rebalancing, while its multi-asset flows halved from the prior quarter.
Prime Financial is looking to shed its “sleeping giant” reputation with larger M&A transactions going forward, having agreed to acquire research firm Lincoln Indicators.
An affiliate of Pinnacle Investment Management has expanded its reach with a London office as the fund manager seeks to grow its overseas distribution into the UK and Europe.