Bell Financial Group's managing director Alastair Provan has warned that spikes in market volatility are likely to catch out shoddy operators in the stockbroking industry, as the sector continues to reel from May's collapse of BBY.

Mr Provan's comments came after Bell reported a fivefold increase in net profit to $5.7 million for the six months ended June 30, after a soft result in the same period in 2014. He outlined that Bell's divisions, including majority-owned online trading arm Bell Direct, were all profitable in the first half and had remained so since the broking and advisory company ruled off its results.