A couple of hundred advisers have dropped off the ASIC Financial Adviser Register over the holiday break, with more expected to follow in the aftermath of the education deadline, but they number isn’t expected to reach beyond four figures as previously predicted.
Analysis from Wealth Data, now owned by adviser fintech Padua Solutions, found adviser numbers decreased by 223 between 18 December 2025 and 8 January 2026.
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.
There were predictions of adviser departures reaching more than 1000, but Colin Williams, data manager at Padua Wealth Data, says early indications show that adviser losses will be less than expected, and he predicts only another 200 to 300 could come off the FAR.
“It may well be that a lot of these advisers have the qualifications in their pocket, they just decided not to put it on the FAR until now,” Williams tells Professional Planner.
“It could be less than 200 or 300 if these advisers come out of the blue and say they have these qualifications. I think there would be another 150 at a minimum.”
Licensees have 30 days to report adviser changes, and it’s expected a clearer picture of the impact of the education deadline will emerge at the end of the month.
As of 8 January 2026, there were 15,150 advisers on the register, according to Padua Wealth Data analysis.
Since 1 December 2025, 421 advisers have ceased and are no longer current on the FAR, but 24 new entrants have joined.
ASIC spent last year warning 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.
Late last year, Parliament had to rectify a legislative drafting error to make sure advisers who were relying on top-up courses to meet the standard weren’t deemed ineligible after the deadline.
The regulator tweaked its dataset to track advisers who applied for the experience pathway and those with approved tertiary qualifications.
Wealth Data analysis of this data showed 5547 advisers fell under the experience pathway – roughly a third of the FAR – while 7638 said no the pathway.
Of the 7638 who aren’t eligible or pursuing the experience pathway, 124 have no qualifications that meet the education standard.
There are another 1965 who haven’t checked either option, and about 500 of those have appropriate qualifications, but nearly half of that 500 may still qualify for the experience pathway.
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.
Most advisers were required to pass the adviser exam by the end of 2021, but an extension granted by the former Morrison government gave a nine-month extension for advisers who failed the exam twice, which then-Minister for Financial Services Jane Hume said would give advisers a “clearer run” due to disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since then, the number of advisers has declined at a much slower pace.
Before the end of 2021, then-shadow minister Stephen Jones promised an Albanese government would offer advisers an experience pathway as an alternative to gaining a tertiary qualification.
After industry consultations before and after Labor formed government in 2022, the experience pathway passed Parliament, giving advisers with a cumulative 10-year experience with a clean disciplinary record the opportunity to remain in the profession without a university degree or equivalent, or higher, qualification.
In his final months as minister, Jones announced at the Professional Planner Advice Policy Summit last February an expanded education standard.
However, disruption from an election, change of minister and the aftermath of the $1 billion collapse of Shield and First Guardian has meant the reform has become a lower government priority.
Current Minister for Financial Services Daniel Mulino said that education reform was still on the table at FAAA National Congress last November, and that he personally believes that more flexibility for what was considered a relevant degree was warranted.
Assuming that 12 million Australians and 1.2 million small Business Owners need advice, then dividing this number by 15,000 Advisers, equates to 880 clients per Adviser.
30,000 Advisers = 440 clients per Adviser. 40,000 Advisers = 330 clients per Adviser, which is a more realistic service capability number.
Yet everyone seems to be focusing on good news being, that the continuing loss of Advisers is reducing, rather than the blindingly obvious situation that people are paying double for their Life Insurance premiums due to the lack of true New Business to offset lapses plus higher claims, for the simple reason there are no new risk Advisers entering the Industry and substantially higher fees for Investment advice that excludes a greater percentage of Australians who cannot afford advice.
Australia is not a success story after vast amounts spent on Royal commissions, Government interventions and inane rules and regulations that fail every common sense test.
Life / Disability Insurance is NOT Financial Planning Advice, it is a crucial part of life, yet the Government has proven every time over the last decade, that they are completely ignorant of what the Life Insurance sector does and NOTHING they have come up with, fixes any of the issues.