Nicola Smee, of the Ginger Group, said it had become noticeable that big firms were increasingly keen to sign up advisers as tied agents. 

“They’re picking good brokers off one by one to be tied agents and offering them extra bonuses they’d normally pay [groups],” she said.

Smee said that was hard on groups that had invested time and money in helping those advice businesses to grow.

But AMP managing director Jack Regan said it was a natural progression for financial advisers to seek out the support of larger organisations. He said 80% of AMP's 604 advisers were part of the QAN. both QFE and non-QFE members. THe rest had significant distributor arrangements and operated with their own compliance and support services.

Regan said there had been fewer new advisers entering the industry since the barrier to entry became higher. But those already in the industry were seeking the backing of bigger organisations to help them meet their compliance requirements.

The number of people coming to AMP from other groups was more of a drift than a run, he said.

But he expected it to get a boost when the Financial Markets Conduct Act, with its attendant rules for DIMS providers, took hold.

Advisers would need the backing of organisations that had the scale to offer adequate resources, Regan said.
“It’s inevitable that people are going to require more and more support services to meet the requirements that go with regulation.”

Those wanting to provide DIMS would need significant levels of organisational capacity and systems to help them comply with regulation.

They would need the right sort of software, templates and scalable and efficient platforms as well as substantial independent research capability, Regan said.

That was provided through AMP’s QAN, he said.  “It’s inevitable that people will shift to that model. Advisers are starting to realise there’s more to the compliance environment than they realised.”