Investment from private equity firms has seen larger advice firms adding a significant number of advisers, according to FCA data.

However, there has also been a steady decline in the number of firms providing investment advice in recent years, according to analysis of the latest FCA firm data by Autus Data Services for the latest issue of Financial Planning Today Magazine.

While there has been a decrease in the number of Directly Authorised firms, there has been increases in the number of Appointed Representative firms over the same period.

This suggests that firms are seeking greater support offered by a principal to deal with an increasingly difficulty regulatory burden.

The General Practitioner advisory firm continues to be the most prevalent, with over 2,750 Directly Authorised firms and more than 6,000 Appointed Representatives covering nearly 70% of all firms providing investment advice.

There is, however a stark contrast between the typical size of these firms and those firms focusing solely on wealth/investment matters with the average larger Directly Authorised firm having 46 advisers while the average holistic Financial Planner AR has just one adviser.

Despite the predicted death of the ‘one man band’, there are still over 6,000 firms with a single adviser each.

At the other end of the scale there are fewer than 200 ‘Very Large’ firms, however they employ more than 18,000 advisers between them, an average of 90 advisers each.

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