While mid-tier licensees lost their fair share of authorised representatives over the course of the last 12 months, and some had spectacular reductions in numbers, a small cohort of dealer groups managed to post significant growth during the period.
Only six mid-tier groups that sit between 10 and 50 on the Professional Planner licensee owners list posted significant gains in the last 12 months; Findex Group, Capstone Financial Planning, Shaw & Partners, Viridian Advisory, Highfield Group and Fortnum Private Wealth.
The fact that these firms have gained ground is remarkable, considering the industry as a whole lost over 5000 advisers or 18 per cent of the authorised representative workforce for the year due to a confluence of education standards, increased regulation and COVID-19 related issues.
On the other end of the scale, notables that lost ground include State Super ownership group FSSSP (down 15 per cent from 280 to 238 advisers), beleaguered advisory Evans Dixon (down 29 per cent from 157 to 112) and time-share proponents Wyndham Vacation Clubs (down 25 per cent from 267 to 201).
The path taken by firms to significant growth varies but the two biggest risers in the mid-tier share a common bond – both Viridian (up 220 per cent from 48 to 154 advisers) and Fortnum (up 117 per cent from 98 to 215) have benefited mightily from the break-up of Westpac’s advice arm.
Viridian had the inside running after it entered what Westpac called a “sale agreement” for BT Financial Advice in March 2019, after which Viridian CEO Glenn Calder toured the major capitals presenting the licensee’s offer to advisers from Westpac’s Securitor and Magnitude brands.
On July 1, 2019, Viridian’s numbers went from 40 to 150. “That was a big date for us,” Calder told Professional Planner in April 2019.
Shortly after the deal, Calder made it clear that numbers weren’t the main objective.
“I certainly don’t think everyone will come across,” Calder added.
It could be argued that Fortnum have had the most success adding organic scale in the last year. Founder and director, Ray Miles, says the firm “didn’t chase turnover for turnover’s sake”, and achieved the growth it did primarily due to an internal ownership model favoured by advisers.
“We chose good size good quality practices and that’s what we got,” Miles tells Professional Planner, adding that the firm also gained advisers from ex-CBA licensee Financial Wisdom. “The reason our model resonated is that we’re an adviser owned dealer group. There are no conflicts, no games being played. Every adviser has a chance to be an owner.”
While he admits that scale is helpful to licensees because it’s a “low-margin game”, Miles warns against measuring the success of a licensee ownership group by sheer numbers alone.
“It’s misleading and it promotes bad behaviour,” he says, pointing out that there are plenty of licensees with “a whole lot of crappy advisers” padding out the numbers.
Apart from these two, Melbourne-based privately-owned advice group Capstone enjoyed a 25 per cent uplift in numbers, while Sydney-based broking and advisory firm Shaw & Partners recorded a similar 24 per cent growth.
Shaw and Partners CEO Earl Evans says the firm is pleased with its growth, which comes largely off the back of an acquisition in Perth.
“We were looking to expand but we’re pretty selective,” Evans says. “We’re not really a bums on seats model.”
Queensland-based Highfield Group have made an even greater surge than their 29 per cent increase suggests; last week the firm announced a merger with Ausure Financial Services, which should see its footprint grow to around 140 advisers.
While wealth management only comprises “around 20 per cent” of converged accounting and advisory group Findex’s revenue, head of advice Julian Maloney says advisers are increasingly attracted to their “family office” model. The firm’s advice numbers grew by 19 per cent for the year.
The full Licensee Owners List – compiled in partnership with CoreData – and analysis of adviser licensee preferences will be released at the start of June and discussed at Licensee Summit Digital, a four-hour live-streamed event to take place on June 2.
Sign up here to take advantage of early bird pricing for Licensee Summit Digital.
There will always be winners and losers in any field of endeavour, however, what is occurring in the Financial Planning Industry is an overall decline and a rearranging of the deck chairs.
It is well documented the reasons why the decline is continuing and simple math dictates that current trends are not pointing to a positive outcome for most Australians.
25 million Australians with 25,000 advisers is an unworkable number. One thousand clients per adviser is an impossible number to service, which means measures need to be put into place to encourage more advisers to stay and new advisers to join.
78 new advisers joining and over 5000 exiting over 2019 is not the direction that is conducive to a stable Industry, or a workable advice model.
Advisers have and will continue to vote with their feet until the Government realises that their utopian world of massive red tape and unworkable regulation, is reduced and reasonable protocols are allowed so Businesses can first survive and second make a profit.