Two weeks on since the poll went live, the results show 50% of advisers expect the cull scenario, while 32% expect to see a small reduction and only 5.4% anticipate no change in the numbers.
Only 5.6% of advisers predict most financial advisers surviving and a small rise is overall numbers, with a little more, 7.4%, believing that most financial advisers will thrive and the overall numbers growing significantly.
There were significant regional variations revealing that advisers in Asia and the Middle East were both much more negative about the outlook than those in Europe, South Africa and the UK.
Over two thirds (68%) of Asia-based advisers voted that there will be a significant cull and 63% in the Middle East felt the same way.
At the end of the summer, International Adviser reported how two leading advisers were predicting new UAE rules would cull firms in the region by 50%.
By contrast, only 24% of advisers in Europe expect this cull, 38% in South Africa and 56% in the UK.
At the other end of the scenario spectrum, South Africa was the most optimistic of all the regions with 13% of advisers seeing the numbers growing significantly, while none of the other regions made it into double digits.
Click below on your region to see the still-live poll in International Adviser’s digital editions and place your vote if you have not already done so:
