Margin lending poised for growth
The margin lending industry looks set to rebound, with two thirds of brokers looking to increase their activity in the next 12 months, research shows.
Despite outstanding debt increasing for the first time in six years to $183 million, the ninth Investment Trends survey of brokers showed the tide is about to turn.
“Many barriers to increased usage of margin lending have softened among brokers, especially those relating to market volatility and interest rates,” Investment Trends analyst S M Shahed said.
“Based on their intentions, the broker channel is poised for growth over the next 12 months.”
While the direct channel continued to grow with a 12 per cent improvement to $4.8 billion in 2013, the planner channel shrunk 7 per cent to $3.9 billion, the Investment Trends margin lending report suggests.
Broker engagement has fallen slightly as well, dropping 2 per cent to $2.8 billion, but that was tipped to change, the research found.
Two thirds of the surveyed 466 brokers said they wanted to increase margin lending activity in the next 12 months.
Recommended for you
The FSCP has announced its latest verdict, suspending an adviser’s registration for failing to comply with his obligations when providing advice to three clients.
Having sold Madison to Infocus earlier this year, Clime has now set up a new financial advice licensee with eight advisers.
With licensees such as Insignia looking to AI for advice efficiencies, they are being urged to write clear AI policies as soon as possible to prevent a “Wild West” of providers being used by their practices.
Iress has revealed the number of clients per adviser that top advice firms serve, as well as how many client meetings they conduct each week.
