Australian dealer groups have been hit by market upheaval, with adviser growth and funds under advice (FUA) the main casualties, the latest IFA Dealer Group Survey has found.
Growth in FUA only increased 5.3 per cent in the second half of 2007, compared to 12 per cent in the first half, the survey found.
The growth in advisers also slowed with the industry only increasing by 3.8 per cent compared to 4.5 per cent in the same period. In 2007, the total number of advisers employed by the surveyed dealers increased by 1163 to 14,784, the survey found.
Professional Investment Services has retained pole position in the latest survey with 1540 advisers and $18 billion in FUA. These figures are up 5.1 per cent and 7.1 per cent respectively for the six months to December 2007.
AMP Financial Planning claimed second place with adviser numbers jumping 6.5 per cent to 1295 and FUA up 1.7 per cent to $43.7 billion in the same period.
As well as adviser growth, a number of the top 20 dealer groups experienced planner departures.
Westpac Financial Planning suffered the highest number with 118 advisers leaving the fold.
Genesys Wealth Advisers followed closely, with 97 planners opting to leave the group. AMP Financial Planning lost 82 advisers.
In terms of platform usage, the survey found Colonial First State FirstChoice platform is still in vogue among dealer groups.
Of the top 100 dealer groups, 52 per cent said they use FirstChoice.
The industry usage of BT Wrap and Macquarie Wrap was too close to call with 41 per cent of the top 100 dealer groups stating they used the platforms.
In regards to platform preference, 22 per cent of the dealer groups said they preferred BT Wrap, while 21 per cent preferred to use FirstChoice and 20 per cent used Macquarie Wrap.
The latest IFA Dealer Group Survey was prepared by InvestorSupermarket.
