Tight competition has seen AMP Financial Planning (AMPFP) lose its long-held position as Australia’s largest individual licensee, according to Wealth Data.
In a new milestone reflecting the changing landscape of the advice sector, Morgans Financial has become the largest individual licensee in Australia.
The stockbroking and wealth management company, founded in 1982, primarily offers investment advice and has 56 locations across Australia.
With 430 advisors, it now occupies first place, ahead of AMP Financial Planning, leader since ASIC records began.
Last month, Wealth Data noted that Morgans had managed to stay “steady on its skids” over the years to climb the ladder. As of November 7, it tied with AMPFP for first place with 429 advisors each, ahead of Count, Alliance Wealth (owned by Centrepoint) and InterPrac Financial Planning (owned by Sequoia).
“The Morgans are a bit of an interesting group because they’ve kind of gone under the radar, so to speak. They didn’t grow dramatically, but they didn’t lose [advisers] neither, and that has been their advantage,” Wealth Data founder Colin Williams told Money Management.
“They were very successful in bringing their advisors together. They have a slightly different model: they provide holistic advice, but they are more focused on investment advice.
Morgans replaces AMPFP, which was recently sold to Wholeti as AMP divested its advisory business, creating a larger Wholeti business that includes AMPFP, Charter Financial Planning and Hillross. This created a company with 1,300 financial advisers, making it the largest advice license holder in Australia.
The number of advisors is growing slightly
Looking at the latest ASIC data from this week, Wealth Data noted a net increase of three advisors across the sector, bringing the total number of active advisors to 15,507 as of December 12.
However, despite this growth, the calendar year-to-date figure still reflects a net loss of 118 advisors. On a financial year basis, there was a gain of 164 advisors. The week saw 18 licensees with a net gain of 22 advisors.
Four licensees increased by two, and Wholeti noted a “busy week” as two advisors moved (in-house) from Personal Financial Services to O&Z Pty Ltd-owned Havana Financial Services. Fortnum hired a newcomer and lost a financial planning advisor from AMP.
Bell Financial welcomed two new entrants, while AD Financial Services saw a new entrant and an advisor recruited from Samuel Allgate Investments.
A new license holder has also started with Advice Evolution advisors.
In terms of more modest growth, 14 licensee owners saw a net gain of one advisor each, including Templestone Financial Services, Ord Minnett Group, Lifespan and the remaining two new licensees.
Meanwhile, three licensed owners lost two each. Two advisers have left Independent Financial Advisers Australia to set up their own licensees.
O & Z Pty Ltd (Havana Financial Services) also lost two points, with both advisers joining Personal Financial Services under Wholeti.
Rhombus has seen one advisor leave Consultum to join Nextplan Financial, and another has left RI Advice and is yet to be appointed elsewhere.
A queue of 13 licensed owners declined by one each, including Alteris Financial Group, Infocus and WT Financial Group.
Wealth Data also explored how a significant increase in financial advisor exam pass rates in 2024 could signal an encouraging change in the industry, but a notable gap remains between those qualified and those in practice.
