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The winners and losers in AFSL adviser gains

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13 April 2026 by Shy-Ann Arkinstall, Money Management

Article link: https://www.moneymanagement.com.au/the-winners-and-losers-in-afsl-adviser-gains/

In the aftermath of the education deadline and another major failure in Shield and First Guardian, Adviser Ratings has shared the top 10 AFSLs who won and lost advisers in Q4.

The 2025 calendar ended with a splash as 460 advisers switching licensees in Q4 and 574 ceasing, 413 of which left in December alone, according to Adviser Ratings’ Q4 2025 Musical Chairs report. 

With so much movement in that final quarter, the report found that half of the licensees in the top 10 for losses saw double-digit declines while mid-size privately-owned licensees were dominate among the winners in Q4. 

SMSF Advisers Network saw the steepest decline with a net loss of 39 advisers in Q4, which the report said was likely a reflection of the 1 January education deadline requirements and the scale of impact it has had on SMSF-focused practitioners in particular who “had deferred qualification completion”. 

It has since been announced last week that the SMSF Advisers Network licensee has closed. Of the 85 advisers it had at the time of closure, two moved to its parent group, the National Tax and Accountants’ Association (NTAA), but the remainder are yet to be reappointed. This event triggered a significant downturn on the on Financial Adviser Register (FAR) which saw a net loss of 88 advisers for the week ending 9 April. 

In second place for Q4 losses was InterPrac Financial Planning, which lost 24 during this period in the wake, largely as a result of its entanglement with the Shield and First Guardian collapses that led to ASIC launching action against the licensee earlier in the year. InterPrac has since been sold, and this decision is also being monitored by the regulator. 

Third on the list is Telstra Super Financial Planning at a net 12 loss, followed by Merit Wealth and Fiducian Financial Services, both of which were down by net 10. 

Licensees with most losses in Q4 

Licensee  Net loss 
SMSF Advisers Network  39 
InterPrac Financial Planning  24 
Telstra Super Financial Planning  12 
Merit Wealth  10 
Fiducian Financial Services  10 
Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Australia  9 
Count Financial Limited  9 
Koda Capital  7 
ART Financial Advice  7 
GPS Wealth  7 

Source: Adviser Ratings, April 2026 

“While some departures reflect the education deadline’s direct impact, others underscore deeper structural repositioning within the advice ecosystem, as advisers exit licensees misaligned with their long-term career and business objectives,” the report said. 

Where licensee types in the top losses were relatively varied across privately-owned, industry superfund, diversified and bank licensees, privately-owned licensees were the only ones to make the winner’s list, and those with 11 – 100 advisers dominated the ranks by taking out seven of the top 10 spots. 

Chief among these was Fortnum Advice, which was the only licensee to score double-digit gains in Q4, increasing its ranks by 11.  

RI Advice wasn’t far behind, however, with a net growth of 9, followed by Partners Wealth Group Financial Advice and Alliance Wealth, up seven and six, respectively. 

Licensees with most adviser gains in Q4 

Licensee  Net gain 
Fortnum Advice  11 
RI Advice  9 
Partners Wealth Group Financial Advice  7 
Alliance Wealth  6 
Picture Wealth Advisory  5 
Templestone Financial Services  5 
MFP Licensing  5 
Sentry Advice  4 
Lifestyle Asset Management  4 
MBS Advice Licence  4 

Source: Adviser Ratings, April 2026 

“Despite the quarter’s net outflows, several licensees recorded meaningful gains, demonstrating that strategic positioning continues to attract talent in a contracting market,” the report said. 

“The diversity of gaining licensees – spanning mid-tier groups, boutique operators, and newly formed entities – underscores the structural fragmentation of the market where advisers choose partners based on cultural fit and succession alignment rather than brand alone.” 

Looking back, the profession saw the number of licensees on a steady decline with net losses above 50 from 2019 – 2022. At this point there was something of a resurgence with an increase of 36 in 2023, but this was short lived as the following year had a break-even result. 

Last year was on track for a net gain in licensees but a surge at the end of the year put this to bed with 43 ceasing in Q4, 35 of which did so in December alone, which the report said represented the “largest quarterly attrition event in recent memory, driven primarily by the education deadline and structural consolidation”. 

After more than doubling the 19 licensees ceasing in Q3, 2025 ended at a net loss of 28. 

Of those that closed in Q4, 60.5 per cent were small privately-owned firms with fewer than 10 advisers and a further 37.2 per cent were limited licensees. 

While this would appear consistent with the overall consolidation trend of the industry, nine of the 16 newly registered licensees in Q4 were single-adviser AFSLs and the remaining seven started with two to five advisers, “reinforcing the continued appeal of self-licensed, autonomous operating models”. 

My Dealer Services (MDS) recently suggested that self-licensing could see a rise in appeal after the high-profile collapses of Shield and First Guardian that have since seen major players in the sector ensnared in the regulator’s wrath, most notable of which is Sequoia’s InterPrac. 

Jaxon King, founder of Scion Private Wealth, told Money Management last month that this was part of the rationale behind his own self-licensing decision, citing the desire for reputational control in an increasingly uncertain environment. 

“It’s the responsibility and being solely responsible for your actions rather than leaving someone else to map out everything. Making sure that you’re as independent as you can be, and that you’re as professional as you can be, and that you’re solely responsible for those actions,” King said. 

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