Australia’s financial planning ranks are in decline, led by a 25 per cent fall in the number of advisers aligned to banks in the year to June.
According to Rainmaker’s latest Financial Adviser Report, the number of registered financial advisers fell by 16 per cent to 22,234 in 2019/20. Planner numbers have fallen for seven consecutive quarters.
Rainmaker executive director of research Alex Dunnin said the fall was due to stricter education requirements, including exams mandated by the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority, and the withdrawal of the banks from the financial planning industry.
Dunnin said the proportion of advisers employed by bank-aligned and other institutional licensees fell from 58 per cent to 52 per cent over the year.