AMP retains its crown

AMPFinancialPlanning has made it four in a row after once again topping theMoney Management’sTop 100 Dealer Group survey, despite the fact its planner numbers dropped to levels last seen in 1999.

AMP now has 1,470 planners, only two less than 1999, after losing 78 advisers since last year and echoing the slide it experienced in the 2001 table when it lost 82 planners from figures recorded in 2000.

However, AMP was in familiar company with both Professional Investment Services (PIS) and Count Wealth Accountants holding their second and third place after adding 175 and 79 planners, respectively.

The group to suffer the biggest losses this year were those associated with the Commonwealth Bank with its two planning arms losing almost 250 planners. Other noticeable moves include ANZ stacking on 78 advisers and Suncorp Financial Advisers adding on another 50.

But beneath all this, a range of boutique dealer groups are eschewing the big planner force theory, for a strategy that requires a smaller number of advisers to service a limited range of high-net-worth clients.

And while the large continue to dominate by sheer size alone, others like Arrive Wealth Management, the Bridgeport Group and Berkley Financial Consultants are happy to concentrate on a smaller number of wealthier clients.

The three groups, none of which appears in the top 70 groups by number of advisers, easily had the highest funds under advice per client in the entire Top 100 survey.

All this is not to play down the increasingly significant role played by the large institutions, and especially the banks, in the financial planning market in Australia.

In 1999, the number of advisers working within bank-owned distribution was 22 per cent of the Top 100. This year it is 35 per cent. Of those, almost all are held by the largest five banks — the National Australia Bank, the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ and St George.

Top 100 report starts page 13´