The corporate regulator has revealed the results of its August financial adviser exam, which has delivered the highest pass mark of the year so far.

According to Wealth Data, less than a quarter of all financial advisers on the ASIC FAR are women, with the accounting and super fund business models having the highest number of female advisers.

The Financial Services Council has appointed two financial services chief executives to join its board.

Two national financial services businesses are set to merge this month to create a $64 billion diversified firm with more than 500 staff, striving to become ‘Australia’s trusted home for great advice’.

Less than half of advisers wrote a life insurance policy in the first half of the year, according to Adviser Ratings, while Deloitte has identified a group of underinsured consumers emerging as a result.

New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics has revealed which states are seeing growth in their retiree populations and becoming the go-to destination for older Australians.

With three separate financial advisers facing criminal proceedings this year having struggled with gambling problems, access to client money combined with a stressful job can be a “perfect storm”, according to experts.

Following a loss of 23 advisers over the last two weeks, the licensee’s current adviser numbers sit at just 20 compared to more than 120 in 2019, Wealth Data reports.

Former van Eyk chief executive, Mark Peter Thomas, has been permanently banned by ASIC for performing any function involved in running or controlling a financial services provider.

ASIC has sued the trustee of Australia’s largest super fund, AustralianSuper, alleging failures to address multiple member accounts affecting 90,000 members over a decade, its first case jointly with APRA.