Bancassurance group Suncorp-Metway reduced financial planner numbers in its bank channel by 15 per cent to 20 per cent in March.
However, the group is growing numbers in its Guardian Financial Planning adviser channel.
“We still have 73 bank planners but … there isn’t any great secret that the available business has reduced over the last 12 or 18 months with the global financial crisis and investment markets,” Suncorp executive general manager of advice solutions David Carter told InvestorDaily.
“It was only two years ago that we had the incredible amount of activity where people were really looking to put money into superannuation or looking at different strategies … that demand has diminished.
“So what we’ve done is look at where the demand is now, where we need to make sure we have got people on the ground to cover the customer needs and the net result of that is that we have less people in planning roles in the bank channel than we had.”
Carter said Suncorp’s financial planners are focusing more on risk advice after falling equities markets reduced investor appetite.
In May, Westpac chief executive Gail Kelly said at the bank’s half-year results presentation she expected a further reduction in the number of full-time equivalents (FTEs) in the second half of the financial year.
The bank reported a reduction of 829 FTEs at 31 March 2009 from a year earlier.
ANZ, Australia’s fourth-biggest bank by market value, will dismiss 58 staff within its financial planning division due to a significant drop in demand for investment advice, an ANZ spokesperson said in March.
Old Mutual, Putnam Investments Australia, Principal Global Investors, Charter Hall, UBS Global Asset Management and MLC were among the firms which announced redundancies in the first quarter.
