Sandringham Financial Partners has ditched its restricted model and moved to independent status in a bid to drive recruitment.
Tim Sargisson, the chief executive of Sandringham, said that despite recruiting 80 new firms in the past two years, the business had found its status as a restricted firm had put some advisers off.
He said: "When we were talking about restricted, it has a negative connotation in the wider community. We have never really lost that tag that restricted is inferior to independent.
"Because we are now dealing with more aspirational advisers, it means they see restricted as being something they are not prepared to consider."
Mr Sargisson said that when Sandringham was launched there was a belief across the industry that the restricted market would expand, but he said this has not happened.
But he said the move to becoming a whole of market firm was an "evolution" rather than a revolution because Sandringham had never insisted that its advisers move their clients if they were already in something appropriate.
Sandringham currently has 160 advisers, with 80 joining over the past two years and 50 leaving.
The company hopes to reach a maximum of 250 advisers before floating on the Alternative Investment Market but Mr Sargisson said both these targets would be delayed.
Mr Sargisson said Sandringham was looking for a particular type of adviser to join the company.
He said: "We are not really after retiring advisers. We are after aspirational advisers. If we were interested in an asset grab that might be interesting to us but we are not."
Against the backdrop of growing the number of advisers more slowly than expected, Sandringham has seen its gross profit increase for 2017 by 48 per cent and its turnover increase by 90 per cent.
As part of the move to independent, Sandringham's advisers will be required to go on a short course to demonstrate their ability to operate in that market.
But the company has said its investment service, which is already whole of market, will not be affected.
Sandringham's investment committee researches the whole of the market along with independent research firm RSMR and creates a risk-rated investment panel for its advisers.
The resulting proposition includes 13 fund styles across 61 portfolios and funds from nine managers.
Sandringham was launched in 2012 with financial backing from Ken Davy, the chairman and founder of SimplyBiz Group.
damian.fantato@ft.com
