How do the big 3 licensees stack up?

With the end-of-financial-year adviser gains and losses finalised, how does this year’s movement affect the ranking of the top three licensees?

In the 2023–24 financial year, there was a loss of 211 financial advisers. This was significantly down from 633 in the previous year, and most of this year’s losses occurred in the last two weeks of June, according to Wealth Data. 

The figures mean the top three ranking of licensees now sits at AMP, then Insignia, followed by Count in third place. This is a position swap for AMP and Insignia as Australia’s largest licensee, and a new entry for Count which saw its numbers swelled by the acquisition of rival licensee Diverger earlier this year to create a $30 billion firm.

Source: Wealth Data, July 2024

There is then a larger drop of 187 advisers down to fourth place, which is held by WT Financial with 529 advisers.

VIEW ALL

View all

The figures do not mean these licensees haven’t experienced losses, though, as both Insignia and AMP had over 900 advisers last year. AMP had 901 advisers, and Insignia, which was formerly in first place, had 977 advisers.

Wealth Data founder Colin Williams noted that licensees which made acquisitions over the financial year also inherited the previous losses of the purchased licensees. It is also not unusual for advisers to exit after a merger and for new advisers to temporarily hold off joining while they wait to see how the newly merged licensee works.

Count lost 102 advisers over the 12-month period, which was the largest loss of all licensees. The firm’s Merit Wealth, which was previously part of Diverger, drove most of its losses, with a large number being “restricted” advisers who generally only provide self-managed super fund (SMSF) admin advice. Count also purchased Affinia from TAL in May 2023 and progressively moved most of the advisers to the Count licensee.

AMP Group came in second position with a decline of 73 advisers, and Insignia Financial fell by 54 advisers. AMP chief executive Alexis George has been vocal about her desire to seek break-even in the firm’s advice division and to welcome new advisers to the business, possibly via an alternate structure for its adviser network. It is also exploring the provision of digital advice and has been in talks with providers such as Midwinter and GBST.

Williams acknowledged: “To AMP’s credit, as a group they have done better than most at putting on new entrants. I believe AMP came out and said they had attracted small self-licensed advisers who were using services such as training and compliance using their Jigsaw division.”

At Insignia, the financial year saw the firm’s exit from Millennium3, which was sold to WT Financial, and Godfrey Pembroke which was divested. It also saw a new chief executive come on board in the form of Scott Hartley who joined from AMP and announced it would introduce Rhombus Advisory, a partnership ownership model for self-employed licensees comprising RI Advice, Consultum Financial Advisers and TenFifty. 

Morningstar has stated it believes this new adviser model may be able to salvage the firm’s reputation after several quarters of adviser attrition. It forecast adviser declines to stabilise by the financial year 2027.

Equity analyst Shaun Ler said: “We believe Insignia’s adviser network restructure is likely to solidify the firm’s reputation, reduce organic adviser attrition, minimise adviser workflow disruptions and restore morale. Efforts to streamline working processes and new technology upgrades should improve adviser productivity.

“The advice business achieved EBITDA profitability in first half fiscal 2024 after five halves of losses. Revenue and costs per adviser are improving, and adviser attrition is slowing.”