Quiet trend of brokers continues

It has been one of the most talked about movements in the financial services industry. While the noise has dropped away and the industry continues to disregard stockbroking firms as a force to threaten financial planning groups, the brokers have persisted in making their moves.

Despite their gradual climb, stockbroking firms are indeed making their presence felt. This year’sMoney ManagementTop 100 shows the number of stockbroking firms in the rankings has doubled from three to six in the past year. The six stockbroking firms are Grosvenor Securities, Shadforths, Wilson HTM Investment Group, Hartley Poynton, D&D Tolhurst and JP Morgan.

Hartley Poynton is the best placed stockbroking group among the six, with the group moving up four places to 19th position this year. The next best placed groups are Grosvenor Securities, currently positioned at 47, up from 53 last year. And D&D Tolhurst, which moved to 72 from 89.

Out of the six groups, three have come from relative obscurity. Shadforths has rushed into 60th spot from outside the Top 100 last year. Others to come from outside the Top 100 are Wilson HTM Investment Group, which enters at 68, and JP Morgan squeezing in at 99.

However, despite the growth of stockbroking firms in the Top 100, industry analysts are saying such groups have tried to walk the line to providing financial planning services in the past but have failed miserably.

Rainmaker managing director Chris Page says despite the evidence that stockbroking groups have once again entered the Top 100 he would not consider it a major trend.

“It is an obscure trend. This debate has been around ever since financial planning was conceived,” says Page, one of the key researchers behind this year’s Top 100.

“Stockbroking firms have either failed or have not moved into planning in any great way. What we have seen of the groups in the Top 20 is that Hartley Poynton has risen and has managed to get a handle on financial planning, however this has taken awhile,” he says.

To further rub salt in old wounds Page says if stockbroking firms have been in the industry for many years why haven’t they been more successful? He believes stockbrokers have been blown out of the water by bigger and better branded financial services companies.

“The big groups in the financial services industry really control the destiny of the people that use the financial planning industry. The concentration has gotten even greater, which clearly is a trend,” Page says.

In fact the tussle between stockbrokers and financial planners, which was to redefine the planning industry landscape, never quite eventuated with the tug of war between accountants and financial planners becoming the new battleground.

Despite this, stockbroking groups are getting ready to compete further within the financial services industry by increasing their numbers of financial planners.

All six stockbroking groups have increased adviser numbers to some extent. The front runner in the adviser stakes is again Hartley Poynton.

In the past year Hartley Poynton has increased its adviser numbers to 214 from 187 last year. Other serious contenders include Wilson HTM Investment Group, which until this year was not registered in the Top 100 survey. However, the group still managed an opening figure of 27 advisers.

The four remaining stockbroking groups each increased their numbers, with Grosvenor Securities recording 45 planners — four up on last year’s figure. D&D Tolhurst increased its numbers from 17 in 2000 to 23 this year.

The figures for JP Morgan and Shadforths are unknown because last year’s information request was returned and marked not applicable. However, this may indicate that while they were involved in planning, staff had not been engaged yet.

Nonetheless, the two groups have 12 and 30 advisers on record, respectively, for 2001.