Advice industry participants have unified in opposition to a significant increase in the annual adviser levy, and questioned the efficacy of an industry funding model that penalises compliant advisers for breaches committed by those that have left the industry. The latest adviser levy for FY19/20 came in at $1500 per licensee plus $2,426 per adviser, with the adviser portion increasing from $1,142 in FY18/19 and $934 in FY17/18. That’s an increase of 160 per cent in two years for an adviser cohort already struggling with the cost to serve. This increase is also being concentrated across advisers providing retail advice; wholesale advisers have a separate levy, which this year sits at $29 per adviser.