Professional Investment Services (PIS) continues to blaze a trail towards listing next year, hiring another 86 advisers and increasing funds under administration (FUA) by 12 per cent in the first half of this year.
PIS beat the major institutions and took out the top spot for adviser numbers in IFA's Dealer Group Survey for the second survey running.
Another 75 advice practices were created and FUA rose to $16.8 billion at June 30, 2007, from $15 billion at December 31, 2006.
The offer is attractive to planners because of the business model that brings together planners and accountants, PIS managing director Grahame Evans told InvestorDaily.
"We've got a conscious effort to grow the business - we find a lot of people are looking for a home that gives them choice in the offering," Evans said.
"We can double their income in two years."
The Gold Coast-based dealer hired over three times the amount of advisers than it did in the previous survey period. Its adviser numbers now stand at 1465 with an average age of 48.
It was another good year for the group, despite a large fall in annual net profit due to the setting aside of a $17.5 million war chest to fund Westpoint litigation.
The company said it is on track to grow its adviser numbers to more than 500 in the next year and now has operations in Malaysia, Hong Kong and China.
The large numbers joining PIS in the midst of a skills crisis is tempered by the net gain of only one in the number of certified financial planners (CFP).
The relatively low number of CFPs at PIS (16 per cent of total advisers) compares to the runner-up in the survey, AMP Financial Planning, which bled 17 advisers but gained 18 CFPs. Around 40 per cent of AMP's 1216 planners are CFPs.
The FPA is ramping up the CFP designation as the gold standard for planners and has tightened its membership criteria to encourage planners to achieve the designation.
Evans said younger planners don't tend to see the value of the designation, but he hopes that will change as its status improves.
