Victorian-based financial planning practice Future First has moved from under the Hillross umbrella to participate under the Paragem Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL), with Paragem managing director Ian Knox saying it is the fifth Hillross practice to do so in the past 18 months.
Knox said the move meant Paragem now had 13 practices working under its AFSL looking after more than $1.3 billion, making it one of the most rapidly-growing independently owned and managed licensees in the country.
Knox said he believed Paragem was now of sufficient size to generate scale and some attention in the market.
He said the AFSL was continuing to work with product manufacturers to reduce costs, and claimed it was one of the few licensees in the country to consistently rebate 100 per cent volume payments and to have no soft dollar deals.
Commenting on the move, Future First principal Luke Provis said the practice believed it had outgrown the vertically integrated model.
