Currently 23% of all advisers that Wealth Data tracks on the ASIC Financial Adviser Register are female.
The firm’s Colin Williams says in his latest Financial Adviser Insights report that analysis of the gender balance across the ‘newest’ advisers, (those being classed as provisional advisers) indicates that the proportion is increasing at 35% of all PAs.
“However, when we look across the past, we have seen a dip in female advisers post Jan 2019. This is when FASEA qualifications came to the fore and the fallout from the Royal Commission began to kick in.”
Williams notes the peak grouping for female advisers is at 31% for those who became an adviser between Jan 2013 and Dec 2018.
“For all advisers, including provisional advisers post Jan 2019 “…the proportion has dropped to 28%, albeit on a much lower number of advisers – 606 male and 239 female. The drop may be surprising given the provisional adviser percentage is at 35%.”
Williams adds the adviser market boom leading up to the end of 2018 was driven by many factors “…including banks hiring advisers, which used to have a higher proportion of female advisers to the market as a whole.”
He says now the only business models with more than 30% female advisers are Accounting-Limited Advice at 39% and Super Funds at 34%.
“Both of those models are small compared to the broader Financial Planning model, which is at 22% and Investment Advice at only 17%.”
