Reforms risk adviser exodus

Industry reforms will lead to a heavier client workload for advisers as changes push planners out of the industry and create an adviser shortage, according to the chief executive of DKN Financial Group, Phil Butterworth (pictured).

Speaking to Money Management, Butterworth said that as industry reforms push older advisers out of the industry it would create a planner shortage and “the prevailing trend” would be single advisers coping with more clients.

“We do have an ageing advisory base, and we’ll be seeing in probably the next 12 months to two years that they will exit, and there will be a shortage of advisers,” he said.

Only those advisers who had enough resources at their disposal would be able to cope with the workload, Butterworth said.

“Whether the adviser feels burdened depends on the structure of the firm. If you have enough resources then you can strata the advice process,” he said.

“An adviser might have the responsibility of the relationship, but then he’s going to have some of the support people that might provide some of the ongoing advice or support to different client segments within the firm,” he said.

“You’re going to have bigger practices which can offer a more holistic approach, so clients will be dealing with a firm and not an individual, with different skills sets within the firm, from risk right through to estate planning and self-managed super funds,” he said.

The consolidation of the industry would also create a more professional advice firm, as opposed to small practitioners, Butterworth said.

Butterworth believed that the reforms would create positive changes in terms of what advisers could offer to investors.