ANZ Financial Planning (ANZFP) cut its adviser numbers by almost 70 in the 12 months to 30 June 2009 and has no aggressive recruitment plans in place for the next 12 months, ANZFP general manager Alan Logan said.
"In March, we cut planning staff by 58 across the board due to a decrease in demand for investment advice. Despite this, however, we're still in the process of recruiting a handful of people to the group and can report there has been an increase in demand for investment-specific advice over the last few months," Logan told InvestorDaily.
While Logan said ANZFP planned to recruit less than 20 people for various roles across the dealer group, he said ANZFP had no mass recruitment strategies in place over the next 12 months.
"We have approximately 320 staff across ANZFP although we have no plans to significantly increase that number over the next 12 months," he said.
"There are two ways you can grow - you can become more efficient and streamlined or you can simply recruit more people.
"Strategically, we've decided to concentrate on enhancing efficiencies and streamlining processes rather than saying it's time to grow staff numbers again."
ANZFP had been transforming the business over the last 18 months through initiatives such as introducing a new management structure and appointing Ashley Stewart to the newly-created role of head of advice 12 months ago.
"We've also introduced planner fees, and while we're not full fee for service yet, we're definitely on that journey," Logan said.
Regarding ANZ's recent purchase of its remaining 51 per cent stake in ING Australia, Logan said he expected everything to be business as usual for ANZFP.
