Offering a stake in the dealer group has been a contributing factor in AAA Financial Group’s dramatic rise in adviser numbers.
The group has risen from seven advisers to 100 as it implements an initial growth phase.
AAA managing director Errol Rabaud says it is aiming for 200 advisers eventually, but the initial goal is about 150.
“We are finding strong interest in the group as advisers look for a different offering compared to the institutions,” he says.
“For example, the first 150 advisers joining AAA will have a 40 per cent shareholding in the dealer group.”
Rabaud says every adviser that has joined the group to date has been issued with their share certificate.
“Advisers are also attracted to us because we are a very transparent group in the way we operate,” he says.
Adviser numbers in the group are concentrated in New South Wales and South Australia, but Rabaud says the forthcoming months will see a push to boost numbers in Queensland and Victoria.
Currently, AAA has about 12 advisers in Queensland and 10 in Victoria. There are about 20 advisers in South Australia and the rest are in New South Wales.
“We want to get about 40 advisers in both Queensland and Victoria respectively,” he says.
“This will be our major growth area for the next 12 months.”
Supporting the growing number of advisers will not be a problem, Rabaud says, as the structure is in place.
“AAA Financial Group evolved out of AAA Shares, which was a stockbroker, so we had a lot of the infrastructure in place,” he says.
“We have had to add extra staff to handle the larger adviser numbers, but the back office only needed extra services to be bolted on to deal with more advisers.”
Many dealer groups report it is hard to recruit quality advisers, but Rabaud says he has had no problem.
“If people think it is hard recruiting; good, that makes it easier for us,” he says.
“As our advisers are shareholders, they are working with us to grow the business further. And that is why we are expanding.”
