Two of Australia’s largest financial advice licensees, AMP and Count, have detailed how they are providing pathways for new entrants.
According to Anne Palmer, general manager of education at the Financial Advice Association Australia (FAAA), the onus lately has been falling on smaller Australian financial services licensees (AFSLs) to recruit new advisers.
“That means that new entrants can no longer rely on big employers to run large graduate intake programs. That has left the obligation on smaller-sized advisory businesses to train up new advisers,” she recently argued.
Speaking further with Money Management, Palmer said she believed that intake programs for new advisers across the board were not operating on the scale they used to be doing so.
“There are a number of reasons for this. For example, in the past, some of the largest recruiters of new advisers were the banks, and they have now exited financial advice. The size of licensees in general have also reduced.
“Therefore, even if they were taking on the same percentage of new advisers compared to their size as in the past, it doesn’t produce the same total number of advisers now,” she said.
The process of recruiting new entrants also became more complex due to professional year (PY) requirements, Palmer explained. With just 317 new entrants joining the advice profession last year, she added that insufficient effort was being made to meet the ever-growing consumer demand for advice.
To delve deeper, Money Management reached out to Australia’s three largest advice licensees – AMP, Insignia Financial and Count – to see how they’re addressing the adviser shortage through their own graduate programs.
While Insignia was unable to comment, both AMP and Count provided details as to how they were supporting the next generation of advisers.
“AMP has an ambition to make financial advice more accessible, meaningful and relevant for more Australians. Critical to this is providing pathways for new entrants to the industry and how we support graduates and the next generation of financial advisers,” an AMP spokesperson told Money Management.
The firm’s PY program has supported 29 candidates on average each year since its introduction in 2019, the spokesperson stated. AMP currently has 59 active candidates completing its PY program, including 22 authorised provisional financial advisers.
Over at Count, chief executive Hugh Humphrey said: “We are passionate about advice and committed to a future where it thrives. We understand the importance of our role in nurturing the next generation of financial advisers by running a dedicated emerging adviser program.”
Count said it has supported 38 candidates currently going through or having completed its PY program.
Breaking it down
Count’s 12-month emerging adviser program is targeted at advice professionals in the early years of their career, such as those with one to three years of experience.
“The program incorporates structured content and practical insights from practitioners in the field, with the aim of building advisers’ confidence and developing their client interaction and commercial skills. Importantly, the program is free for attendees and participation is credited towards the structured training obligations of the PY,” Humphrey said.
It features four quarterly workshops across the year, including a combination of face-to-face and interactive virtual sessions. Count presents several practical examples that new advisers can experiment with in client meetings.
In addition, the program covers the following four topics:
- Building trust and running new client meetings.
- Articulating value and skills on how to approach fees and other difficult conversations.
- Developing strategies for clients and pricing advice appropriately.
- Running effective review meetings and delivering positive client experiences.
Meanwhile, AMP provides financial support to practices in its advice network that are investing in growing their own talent. It does not charge a licensing fee for provisional advisers completing their PY at its partnered practices.
AMP’s community program provides knowledge symposiums, training and development workshops, and leadership study tours for PY candidates, associate advisers and practice staff.
“Our professional development days will be rolling out across the country next month, which not only offers the opportunity for further CPD accrual, it also provides those new to the profession the opportunity to grow their peer network.”
Moreover, the licensee is involved in several other important initiatives aimed at growing the next generation of advisers. This includes the AMP University Challenge, a national financial planning competition for university students that identifies promising new talent; and Striver’s annual Brimstone event launched with AMP last year, exploring career opportunities within the industry.
Why would any Licensee invest in educating and training new advisers, when as soon as the handcuffs come off, they will be targeted by whomever is prepared to provide them with the highest salary package?