More than 12,000 financial advisers have retired or handed back their registration since the financial services royal commission, which levelled widespread allegations of misconduct against the sector in 2018. The exits represent a 43 per cent decline in the size of the workforce in just five years.

Anecdotal evidence suggests many of them left prematurely, unwilling or unable to cope with the mountainous red tape ushered in by the damning inquiry, much of it duplicating existing paperwork. Others would or could not cop the mandatory education standards introduced by the federal government, which included forcing the ageing workforce to obtain a mandatory multi-year tertiary degree.