Anne-Marie Elser

Padua Solutions has appointed joint founder, Anne-Marie Esler, as non-executive director and industry engagement lead, effective 1 January 2026. In her new role, Ms Esler will represent Padua across key industry and community initiatives as the company continues to expand the reach and influence of its end-to-end Advice Generation Platform.

As part of this appointment, Ms Esler will also assume the role of company secretary, supporting Padua’s ongoing engagement with shareholders and investors. She will step down from her current co-CEO position on 31 December 2025.

Anne-Marie Esler co-founded Padua Solutions with Matthew Esler in 2013. Since then the business has grown to nearly 90 employees across two offices, servicing over 100 advice firms and representing an increasingly meaningful share of the adviser market.

In 2025, Padua successfully completed its third capital raise and finalised the acquisitions of Wealth Data and Wealth X. These investments, together with Padua’s continued progress in AI-enabled automation, further strengthen its position as a leader in technology-driven advice production.

Reflecting on her transition, Ms Esler said her new role will allow her to focus more deeply on representing Padua within the industry and broader community, while continuing to support the company’s governance and investor relations.

“I am confident the business’s growth trajectory will remain strong. I look forward to continuing to represent Padua at conferences, industry events, university collaborations and as sponsor of the Women in Wealth Awards, as well as championing the role of women in financial services more broadly.”

Padua Chair, Peter O’Connell, said: “Anne-Marie and Matthew have built Padua into the strong business it is today. Anne-Marie’s continuing role on the board ensures she remains a key adviser to the company, with a particular focus on industry and community engagement – areas the board recognises as critical to Padua’s ongoing success.”

From 1 January 2026, Matthew Esler will assume the position of managing director and CEO.

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Anne-Marie Elser

Financial advisers are increasingly using a higher proportion of platforms while decreasing the number of strategies being used for clients, according to Padua Solutions co-founder and co-CEO, Anne-Marie Esler.

With the abolition of tied distribution and the exit of banks and large financial institutions from the financial advice space, Ms Esler said advisers have more freedom to recommend a larger variety of super, pension and investment-based platforms.

“Industry super funds in particular are becoming more adviser-friendly by allowing advice fees to be deducted from a client’s super balance and, therefore, they are increasingly being recommended.

“Although they are restricted somewhat by their licensee’s approved product list, advisers are taking advantage of the thousands of platforms available in the market and, according to our data, recommending more than what they would have previously.

“Advisers are seeking the most appropriate platform that suits the needs of their individual clients and not recommending platforms based on a financial or other benefit, as they have been accused of doing in past years,” she said.

Despite the trend in use of platforms, Ms Esler said the number of strategies that advisers are recommending is narrowing and limited.

She said that of the 650-plus strategies that are available to advisers, they are restricting recommendations to more familiar, known strategies.

“Without access to technology and data systems, advisers cannot possibly be abreast of all the advice strategies available, or be able to link to a client’s demographic profile to check eligibility.

“Smart use of technology to develop advice strategies will ensure advisers can provide tailored, cost-effective advice for the benefit of their clients.

“With a recent ASIC report indicating more than 10 million Australians would like to receive financial advice in the future, advisers have a good opportunity to capitalise on this strong level of demand but the ability to access the appropriate data will be key,” she said.

According to Padua Solutions data, ‘rollover your super’ is the most recommended strategy used by financial advisers. This is followed by ‘retain your super’, strategies that recommend insurances, ‘review your estate planning arrangements’, ‘commence an account-based pension’ and ‘review your Centrelink entitlements’. Strategies that recommend rolling over your pension or retaining your pension are the next most popular adviser recommendations.

Recommendations to commence an SMSF have plateaued in recent years but are more highly recommended by financial advice firms with a connection to an accounting entity, generally due to a joint ownership structure.

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“Initial advice fees charged by advisers on a per advice document basis increased from $2,859 in FY21 to $3,315 in FY22 – an increase of 16 per cent,” Padua Solutions co-CEO and co-founder, Anne-Marie Esler, said.

“It’s no wonder the high cost of financial advice is frequently cited by Australians as the main reason for not seeking advice – especially when advice fees can rise by more than double the current rate of inflation,” she added.

Meanwhile, ongoing advice fees charged by advisers on a per advice document basis rose from $3,656 in FY21 to $4,865 in FY22 – a significant increase of 33 per cent.

The annual Padua Advice Fee Data Report is actual advice fee data aggregated from the 5 per cent of financial advisers using Padua’s software and services. Padua institutional, licensee and advice practice clients benefit from being able to access data dashboards that visualise this actual and objective advice data in real-time.

Ms Esler noted that financial advice fees have also risen as the regulatory burden on financial advisers has increased, requiring them to devote more time to ensuring advice documentation adheres to compliance requirements.

Further, since the end of 2018, financial adviser numbers have fallen by 43 per cent from 27,929 to 15,908 (as at 6 October 2022), placing further pressure on the sector.

“The mass exodus of advisers from the financial advice industry has only exacerbated existing concerns around the cost and accessibility of advice,” she said.

“If we as an industry don’t work towards reducing the cost of providing advice, it will become increasingly inaccessible for most people, and especially those who would potentially stand to benefit most from financial advice,” she said.

According to Padua Solutions co-CEO and co-founder, Matthew Esler, technology has the capacity to improve the accessibility of advice for all by automating key processes and enabling financial advisers to do more with their time.

“This starts with a client’s fact find and goes right through to using algorithms to determine which advice strategies would be best suited for a client and the actual monetary benefit of each strategy for that client.

“As an example, advisers who use our software can generate Records of Advice (RoA) in 15 minutes for a cost of $125, and simple Statements of Advice (SoA) in 30 minutes for a cost of $250 through our DIY capability. Complex SOAs average $575 through our services,” he said.

Mr Esler pointed to the recently released Quality of Advice Review Consultation Paper, where review head Michelle Levy prioritised accessibility of advice by putting forward several proposals that simplified reporting requirements on advisers and the cost of running an advice business.

“These are important proposals, but we also believe the cost of running an advice business – and therefore the cost of financial advice to the end user – can already be reduced today by finding the right technology partner. Automating as much of the technical components of providing financial advice should be viewed as a priority in the future viability of the advice industry,” Mr Esler said.

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