The number of financial adviser has risen slightly in the post-Retail Distribution Review (RDR) years, though has dipped since January, new figures have shown.
Latest data from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) revealed there are currently 31,153 advisers trading in the UK, 21,496 of which are financial advisers.
The numbers are down slightly from January levels, when there were 31,220 advisers and 21,881 financial advisers in operation.
But overall, adviser figures have stayed flat over the past 22 months - the period since the implementation of RDR, when there were 31,132 advisers in the market in total.
Overall, numbers are pretty flat - and we settled where we were on the eve of RDR coming in
The number of financial advisers increased by around 5% during that time, from 20,453.
However, the number of financial advisers is still down by almost 10% on the 23,787 estimate provided by RS Consulting in the summer of 2012.
Advisers recorded as 'financial advisers' by the regulator exclude those working in banks or building societies, stockbrokers or discretionary investment managers.
Bank and building society advisers decreased by a third since January 2013, to 3182 advisers, whereas the pool of discretionary investment managers increased by 18% in the first two years of the RDR to 1,698.
Bank adviser numbers had already decreased by 27% in the run up to RDR, when discretionary managers went up by 64%.
The FCA said: "Overall, numbers are pretty flat - and we settled where we were on the eve of RDR coming in."
