The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has ended almost a year of speculation about the structure of its new financial planning venture by unveiling Enterprise121, a new business that will aim to take an equity stake in up to 35 boutique advice practices.
The new group is a high-end dealer service business, that will look to invest in groups who use its suite of services.
The bank has also created Advice121, a dealer firm that will allow planners without Australian Financial Services Licences (AFSLs) to practice while providing them with access to support services through Enterprise121.
The new business also includes a new portfolio wrap platform, called Access121, which is operated by CBA-owned administration provider Avanteos Investments.
Enterprise121 chief executive Kim White says the group had originally planned to only roll-out a new dealer firm, but research revealed a large proportion of planners in non-aligned and more mature advice practices were not being properly catered to by the market.
“Initially, the idea was to set up another dealer group but in essence, it became very obvious that there were a lot of boutiques or independents in the marketplace who were being overlooked and were struggling to get the right support,” White says.
He says the research revealed many established practices were having difficulty either in managing the growth stage of their businesses or moving through to the slower and more mature phase of the business cycle.
The group is positioning Enterprise121 at the high-net-worth end of the market, with an understanding that these individuals will require non-traditional dealer services.
“No two practices are the same, and to provide a ‘one-size-fits-all’ service just doesn’t cut it when dealing with practitioners who have been in the business for many years,” White says.
He says Enterprise121 has been created to offer a strategic and personalised approach to help financial planners, accountants or other financial advisory professionals to build on what they’ve already established.
This unit will also take equity positions in some practices, offer debt funding, succession planning support, personalised business management, consulting and professional development.
Additionally, for those businesses writing more than $250 million to the Access121 platform, there will be opportunities to operate a ‘white’ label version of the platform.
White says clients can utilise all the services on offer or cherry pick those modules that best suit their needs.
“The pricing structure will be just as flexible, with a full ‘user-pays’ fee-for-service option,” he says.
Enterprise121 will provide the personal service element to practitioners, while the remainder of dealer services will be delivered through relationships with external parties, including Deutsche’s Desk Caddie software, Colonial First State’s FirstChoice platform, van Eyk Research, and elements of CBA’s financial planning administration services.
