Since June last year there are 1,954 fewer approved persons in the IFA network marketplace, taking the total to 9,207, while IFA businesses have only reduced their number by 239 to 22,907.
The number of approved persons in the private client wealth manager sector is down 73 to 4,105.
Across the financial services industry, the number of approved persons has fallen from 155,973 in June last year to 148,966 last month – a reduction of 4.5%.
IMAS Corporate Finance compiles data provided by the FCA to demonstrate trends in the number of approved persons in financial services.
An approved person is any individual who has been permitted by the FCA to perform one or more ‘controlled functions’ on behalf of an authorised firm, and while these may not be client-facing roles, keeping track of the total number is a good indicator of the state of the financial services sector.
Company figures
Drilling down to the company specific level, it can also be viewed as a leading indicator of a company’s health, although founder Olly Laughton-Scott has previously said there are a number of factors at bay.
For example, Coutts & Company, which has seen a spate of departures this year to private banking rivals, has seen a 37.1% decline in the number of approved persons in the past 12 months. It now has only 279, compared with 435 this time last year.
At the other end of the spectrum, St James’s Place has seen a 19.5% increase in the number of approved persons it employs in the past 12 months, up from 2,499 to 2987.
It has been bucking the trend for some time now, read more here…
Fellow national Brewin Dolphin has seen a 7% decline in approved persons year-on-year from 604 to 562, although it hit a low point of 558 in April so may have started to turn the trend.
Ashcourt Rowan, which has seen a great deal of change under CEO Jonathan Polin joined two years ago has seen a 25% in approved persons in its asset management arm over that time, but a 32% reduction in its financial planning part of the business.
Unsurprisingly, Quilter has seen a 28% boost to its approved persons total over the past 12 months, with the entirety of that jump experienced since the acquisition of Cheviot went through in April this year.
Do you want to know the approved persons figures for any other peers? Let us know in the comments box below…
