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Analysis of the Network Performance Tables for the Second Quarter of 2010

When Which Network compiled the last league table for Q1 2010, I stated that it was refreshing to have a stable start to the year. It didn’t take long however to demonstrate that the rumours circulating the industry proved true when Home of Choice went into administration before morphing into First Complete. Some rumours continue but this time it is in the public domain and has been reported in other publications that Personal Touch Financial Services (PTFS) are on the acquisition hunt, allegedly with Pink Home Loans in their sights.

The actual numbers of advisers in the market place is receiving considerable attention currently with the total numbers reportedly dropping from just over 32,000 in 2008 to around 29,000 currently. Needless to say, not all these advisers practice in mortgages and estimates on the total number of mortgage and protection advisers range from 12,000 to 20,000. When the CF31 function comes is into place which is expected to be 31st March 2011, we will then have an accurate number of advisers. Although our estimate does not stretch to 20,000, compared to some, our view seems to be on the optimistic side but maybe that’s because of the number of enquiries we receive from advisers either moving or re-entering the market place.

Looking at the table, the most noticeable event is that of a new entrant straight in at number 8. First Complete crash in to the table with the majority migration of former Home of Choice (HOC) AR’s giving them a net increase of 220. They also show a loss of 41 firms in the same period which could be firms collecting their pay cheque and then finding a new home. Unsurprisingly the register still has 46 AR’s with HOC, some of whom are also registered with their new network. Other networks showing the greatest net loss are Pink and PTFS with -27 and -44 firms respectively. This may be attributed to the knee jerk reaction to their change in charging structures during Q1.

In percentage terms we have only seen marginal increases within half of the networks in Q2. Considering that during this period we have witnessed the demise of another network, the fact that we have only a net loss of 72 firms has to be viewed as positive. Some of you who pay close attention to this table will notice that we have removed Thinc Group, this is because the AR’s on the FSA Register are actually Introducer AR’s and therefore a different animal to what most people would consider to be an AR.

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