Brisbane-based financial planning group Australian Investment & Financial Planners Pty Ltd (AIFP) has changed its name to My Adviser — beginning the first in a number of changes management said will keep the company ‘up to date’ with the industry.
“[The change in name] is part of a rebirth of the company,” My Adviser managing director Michael Summers told Money Management.
Describing the old name, AIFP, as “clumsy” and “dated”, Summers said he hoped the new name, My Adviser, would have a broader appeal.
“We chose the new name because it would be relevant to extended services other than financial planning. We will, over time, be providing advice to clients in fields broader than financial planning,” he said.
Although he was not prepared to elaborate on whom those clients might be, Summers described the shift in focus as part of the “development of the financial planning industry”.
A new name has also brought new offices for My Adviser, which is in the process of moving to new premises in Southport, Brisbane.
The new location is up to 50 per cent bigger than the existing offices and a recruitment drive had already begun to fill the new space.
Summers said My Adviser’s new Cadet Associate program, also announced this week, would mentor and develop new entrants to financial planning. Summer said the program would increase the professionalism of services provided by the company.
“The time is right — it is long overdue for practitioners. We’re looking to a strategy to increase the educational standards of advisers. Most of all, [My Adviser] aims to develop a culture of client first at all costs,” he said.
Clients have been informed of the name change via mail and, according to Summers, the response so far had been positive.
