Industry

After the Hayne Royal Commission many advisers decided to steer away from large dealer groups in favour of becoming self-licensed. In the last six months, however, that trend has taken an abrupt turn.

The government’s reform package may be flawed, but it’s crucial that the first tranche goes through parliament before the next election, Abood said. Further delays will stall vital investment in the financial advice industry.

There are several bones of contention that the FAAA, and the industry more broadly, has with the compensation scheme’s settings, despite supporting it in principle. At the heart of it is the government’s repeated willingness to foist retrospective punishment on the good for the sins of the bad.

There is an incredible rush to bring model portfolio offerings to market from every corner of the advice ecosystem. From platform providers to licensees and advice groups, researchers and asset consultants, the list of service providers casting themselves as mini fund managers is growing exponentially. We’ve seen this kind of thing happen before.

When you have an increase of 50 per cent in support staff over a 4 year span, it hints at some serious changes to the shape of advice practices across the country. It might also mean there are further efficiencies to unravel.

Making up the adviser shortfall is going to be a challenge, with the big professional services firms just as desperate for top-level talent as advice groups. To get young people interested, Striver founder Alisdair Barr says, we need to make the industry interesting.

Our advisers may be a few years behind the UK industry in terms of development, but when they catch up there will be ample reward according to CoreData’s Andrew Inwood.

After his executive stint at AMP was cut short eight months ago, Hartley firmed as favourite for the leadership role at its institutional contemporary, Insignia, when Mota announced his departure.

Rob da Silva didn’t plan a career in research, but a confluence of events led to an early career switch away from pure funds management. The research sector has its challenges, which the now-veteran researcher calls “frustrating”, but it also holds real pockets of opportunity for new players to add value for advisers.

When adviser David Murdoch founded Paxton Bridge in 2009 he implemented a slow-burning idea; to manage wealth with ‘activism’ front of mind, which meant finding a way to help clients activate their wealth for the right reasons.

The number of cases being escalated to the complaints authority is soaring, but as we approach the 5-year anniversary of the Hayne Royal Commission it’s clear that a whole new set of issues are driving consumer ire.

Adviser remuneration was a clear thematic this year, with the top two stories focusing on salary levels. Practice management and regulation, once again, played prominent roles in the news cycle, as did the profile of one very interesting young adviser.