********* OVERSET *********

By Laine Lister

The rapidly rising salaries of the past have been dealt a blow in recent months as has planner optimism entering a bear market, however, one group will benefit from the market dips, with the outlook rosy for risk advisers, according to plenty of recruitment bosses and dealer group heads.

After years focusing on wealth management, risk is becoming an increasingly attractive option for planners as investors become interested in their areas of exposure and how they can best protect themselves.

It is little wonder, then, that dealer groups are responding by beefing up risk departments.

Professional Investment Services (PIS) has added 20 new risk advisers in the last month, and according to PIS group chief executive Robbie Bennetts, that number will double by the end of the financial year.

“I would anticipate that we’ll take on somewhere between another 20 and 30 risk advisers between now and the end of June,” he told Money Management.

And with this heightened demand for risk specialists comes a shortage of people with skills and experience in risk.

Profusion director Simone Mears said the industry could expect to see plenty of planners taking advantage of the situation and moving into the risk arena.

“We are likely to see a real push into risk this year, there just aren’t enough really experienced people to fill all the jobs,” she said.

Bennetts has also experienced a tightening of planner availability and suggested that a lot of development work needs to be done.

“I don’t think we’ll see the pressure come off the demand for planners for another five or six years yet,” he said.

And while salaries industry-wide have begun to plateau, risk salaries are expected to increase as a result of supply and demand.

“We’ve definitely seen a slowing down of really high salaries on the investment side, but this will not put a dampener on risk salaries,” Mears said.

n For the full results of Money Management's 2008 Salary Survey, see page 18.