Melbourne-based financial services group Australian Unity is throwing its weight behind expanding its three-year-old financial planning arm, with plans to increase its advice franchises and allow planners to sell wealth creation and health products alongside financial advice.
As part of the plan, the group has snared Perpetual-owned dealer firm Wilson Dilworth general manager Travers Stow to head up Australian Unity Financial Planning.
Group managing director Rohan Mead, who formally took over at the helm from incumbent chief Ian Ferres on July 1, says there are various models the group has considered to grow the financial planning business, but the franchise option is deemed to be the more sustainable model.
“Financial planning will be the core of the proposition within the wealth and health offerings,” Mead says.
Stow, who like Mead joins from Perpetual, will take responsibility for expanding the financial planning network when he commences in the role later this month.
The company has also hired former Alchemy Business Solutions principal Richard Atkinson as its new practice development manager and has just completed a six month review, which was conducted by Mead.
“It has been a welcome review that produced a number of proposals that included taking the financial planning business from its incubation stage to maturity,” he says.
Australian Unity has eight existing franchises out of the 23 planners in the group, while the asset management arm has $2.3 billion of funds under management.
Mead says inflows over the last financial year have been very strong compared to a number of years of stagnant growth.
“Last year we achieved gross inflows of $446 million, with most funds going to our specialist offering in property and mortgages.
“The funds management growth has been into our own funds and specialist microcap manager Acorn (in which Australian Unity has a 50 per cent stake),” Mead says.
Asked if the group will rationalise some of its other products, Mead says its traditional products, such as funeral bonds, will stay while the company plans to develop its property funds with syndicates and unit trusts.
