Advisers generate £201k pa each

The FSA revealed that regulated advisers and arrangers contributed £14.5m in fees towards its AFR.

At a fee of £13.12 per £1,000 of annual income this equates to a total revenue of £1.15bn of income by fee-paying mortgage adviser firms.

The FSA also disclosed that there were 5,729 fee payers in the 2011/12 period. The figures imply that each fee paying firm generated on average approximately £201,000 per annum.

For 2012/13 the FSA has projected that the average mortgage firm will generate £188,358.

The AFR also revealed that home finance advisers would see an increase in the fees they paid towards the FSA, from £13.12 per £1,000 of income during the 2011/12 period, to £13.43 in 2012/13.

David Sheppard, managing director at Perception Finance, said: “The numbers look about right. Advisers should remember that the fees will be an average of all firms from one man bands’ all the way to the larger adviser firms like John Charcol and Alexander Hall.”

Kevin Duffy, managing director at Mortgageforce, said: “The figure that we will have three more firms over the next twelve months is quite optimistic in my view.

“There are already brokers out there who are having second thoughts about their position.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the figure was more towards a decrease of up to a hundred or even more.”

Duffy added that the drop in revenue should not scare brokers as there were many other streams of revenue to explore which would not affect that figure.

Robert Sinclair, director of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries, agreed that £201,000 per annum seemed like an appropriate figure that an average firm would earn.

He said: “Brokers should remember that the figure will also include firms who pay the minimum £1,000 FSA fee so the actual average revenue may be quite a bit lower.

“It’s in my experience that the average individual adviser should be looking at around the £40,000 area.”

Firms which generate revenue below £76,000 will pay the flat minimum of £1,000.

The FSA declined to comment.