Most top independent boutiques and large dealer groups saw their funds under advice (FUA) per adviser slowly erode from December last year as the S&P/ASX 200 slumped into bear market territory.
Boutique dealer group Brady and Associates principal Paul Brady was knocked off the top FUA per adviser rankings, after ClearView Retirement Solutions re-entered the IFA Dealer Group Survey.
ClearView’s seven financial planners managed $306.1 million each at the end of June 2008. Past figures for ClearView’s were unavailable and the company’s dealer group head, Clive Kirkpatrick, would not comment.
Brady, the sole planner in his firm, managed $270 million for his high net worth clients at the end of June. Sydney-based Brady topped the survey during the six-months to December 2007 and the six months to June 2007.
He gained more clients in the six months to June 30 and has advised them to generally buy stocks on weakness, he says.
“I don’t think we have the wisdom to call market bottoms or the like, but on many traditional measures the market is clearly showing many areas of more attractive long-term value than it has a year ago,” he says.
Wealth manager for the rich UBS Wealth Management and advisory firm Q Invest had $138.9 million and $130.7 million in FUA per adviser, respectively.
Queensland-based dealer group Goodman Private Wealth Advisers saw its FUA per adviser for its two planners drop to $137.5 million in the first half of 2008, compared to $140 million each in the second half of 2007. That is still higher than the $125 million they each managed in the first half of last year after the boutique advisory firm changed its client focus to high net worth individuals, or those with $1 million or more to invest.
“Between June 2007 and December 2007 we had a good number of new clients come onboard who fit our ideal client profile,” Goodman chief executive Brad Church says.
Church says the fall in FUA in the six months to June 2008 has been due to extreme market volatility, but the boutique dealer group has not lost any clients.
In terms of the mega dealer groups, AMP’s 1314 planners looked after an average $30.2 million each in the first half of the year.
That is down from when it had 1295 planners looking after $33.6 million each for clients for the six months to December 2007.
But AMP Financial Planning managing director Michael Guggenheimer says Australia’s second biggest dealer group by adviser numbers will be in a strong position when markets recover.
“We continue to invest for growth by increasing our planner numbers and productivity, and broadening our distribution base,” Guggenheimer says.
Professional Investment Services (PIS), the country’s biggest dealer by adviser numbers, had a very slight increase in its FUA per adviser.
PIS’s 1551 planners each managed an average $11.73 million for clients in the first half of 2008, compared to 1540 planners each looking after $11.68 million in the second half of 2007.
