The latest figures from Padua Wealth Data show that there are 120 advisers remaining who either don’t have appropriate tertiary qualifications or have flagged they qualify for the 10-year experience pathway.
The latest figures come from Padua Wealth Data who reported at the start of the year that a couple of hundred advisers dropped off the ASIC Financial Advisers Register, although that figure was below industry expectations.
The deadline to obtain an approved qualification or show experience pathway eligibility was the start of the year, but licensees have a 30-day deadline to provide updated records to ASIC.
Those who still qualify to give advice will receive a late fee for not updating the FAR within the 30-day deadline.
Further information from Wealth Data provided to Professional Planner shows there are 35 advisers from single-adviser licensees (see table below). Overall, 105 of the 120 are from licensees with fewer than 10 advisers.
| Licensee size | Advisers affected |
| 1 adviser | 35 |
| 2 advisers | 15 |
| 3-4 advisers | 19 |
| 5-9 advisers | 36 |
| Source: Padua Wealth Data | |
A total of 504 advisers have ceased since 1 December 2025, while the number of new entrants for 2026 so far is 47.
Outside the impact of the education/experience deadline, ASX-listed Sequoia Financial Group has seen 55 advisers depart since the start of last October.
Of the 55 that resigned, 40 were reappointed with 14 moving to Centrepoint Group, four to Lifespan, three to Advice Evolution and 14 to different smaller licensees.
Sequoia owns InterPrac Financial Planning which is being sued by ASIC over allegations it failed in its oversight of its advisers in the $1 billion Shield and First Guardian collapse, including Ferras Merhi, who is considered by the regulator to be a central part of the distribution of the funds.
ASIC warned last year that some advisers may incorrectly be relying on the experience pathway, and urging advisers to make sure records were up to date for those who were eligible for either the experience pathway or the education standard.
The number of advisers has dropped since the conclusion of the Hayne royal commission, when there were circa 28,000 relevant providers listed on the FAR. However, that number was inflated as Australian financial service licensees added authorised representatives to the register to avoid them later being classified as new entrants.
The number of advisers settled at fewer than 16,000 after the final deadline to pass the adviser exam deadline in September 2022.
Former Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones introduced an experience pathway for advisers with 10 years’ cumulative experience between 2007 and 2021 and a clean disciplinary as of the end of 2021.
The original deadline for financial advisers to obtain a tertiary qualification was set for the start of 2024 but was extended during the Covid-19 pandemic to the start of 2026, with a carve-out for experienced providers added later.
The passing of the deadline comes as the industry waits for movement on Labor’s proposed expansion of the education standard which would allow a broader suite of relevant degrees to included.
