Over 2000 advisers down in 2021: Wealth Data

The advice indsutry passed a grim milestone this week, with the annual net total of advisers to come off the Financial Adviser Registry pushing past 2,000 for the first time.

After the industry lost another 124 advisers this week, leaving 18,574 on the registry, the net losses for the year reached 2,062, according to research from Wealth Data.

A large portion of the week’s losses stem from the wind down of CBA’s Commonwealth Financial Planning, which contributed a net decline of 44 advisers after 74 came off the register and 31 commenced at AIA Financial Services.

CBA Group lost a net total of 75 advisers for the week.

Elsewhere, insittutional providers AMP (-38) and IOOF (-28) also suffered heavy losses as advisers who do not intend to continue practicing beyond the provisional December 31 cut-off date for the FASEA adviser exam left the industry.

Accountants offering SMSF advice under the limited licence provision have also left the industry en masse during the course of the year. Wealth Data notes that 105 licensees from the ‘Accounting – limited advice‘ group have closed in 2021, while none have commenced.

On the positive side of the ledger, licensee group Oreana experienced the most growth in 2021 to-date with a net increase of 37 advisers. Next came Centrepoint, which recently acquired Clearview Financial Advice and experienced a net increase of 15 advisers.