‘Dramatic improvement’ seen in new entrant hires
Over 230 new entrants have appeared on the Financial Adviser Register since 1 July 2022 with their numbers cited as a key strategy for licensee growth.
In terms of new entrants, defined as someone whose initial start date as an adviser fell after July 1, 2022, licensee owners with between 100-499 advisers hired some 55 new entrants (or 23.6% of all new entrants).
However, it was indicated this segment hired less that the broader average, having 31.44% of all advisers.
The three largest licensee owners with over 500 advisers, hired 51 new entrants or 21.89% of new entrants.
According to Colin Williams, Wealth Data founder, this was driven by AMP and Insignia both hiring 22 new entrants each and Centrepoint hiring seven.
“The number of new entrants to financial advice, initially as provisional advisers, was very sluggish when first introduced in Jan 2019. However, we saw a dramatic improvement in the second half of 2022 which continues in 2023,” he observed.
“Since July 1, 2022 some 233 new entrants have appeared on the FAR and over the same period, over all net growth has been (-324).
“This effectively means that the net loss excluding new entrants would be (-557), almost exclusively experienced advisers.
“Therefore, growth by new entrants is becoming to be a key strategy for growing licensees.”
Meanwhile, Wealth Data noted a ‘relatively quiet week’ in adviser movements after recording double-digital growth from the new Zurich Assure AFSL last week.
This compared to 14 advisers joining Zurich Assure’s new AFSL the previous week.
Sequoia Group and AMP welcomed three advisers each while Centrepoint was also up two.
17 licensee owners, including Perpetual and Insignia, were up by net one in the week to 16 February.
A new licensee commenced with two advisers moving away from Respect Financial Services.
Two small licensees, Altitude and Innate, were up by two advisers each. All four advisers were new Provisional Advisers.
In the last week, some seven Provisional Advisers (PAs) commenced and one ceased.
Wealth Data pointed out that net change in adviser movements stood at +57 for 2023 as some resignations were backdated into 2022.
In terms of losses, Count Group was down four after a practice ceased and one of those advisers joined Consultum.
24 license owners, including Fitzpatricks, Macquarie Group, Clime and Steinhardt (Infocus) were down net (-1) each.
Overall, 31 licensee owners had net losses for (-40) advisers.
AUTHOR
Rhea Nath
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