Boutiques still doing well – despite tough times

Theboutiques may not have been the fastest movers over the past 12 months, but the Top 100 shows that most have managed to sustain respectable growth in terms of client numbers and funds under advice.

Defining a boutique can be a moot point, but for the purposes of the Top 100 we regard them as being those entities which are either substantially or totally privately owned.

Therefore, the highest ranking boutique in the Top 100 isLifespan Financial Planningwhich, with 150 advisers and $900 million in funds under advice, moved modestly from position 25 in 2002 to be ranked 24 this year.

However, the fastest moving boutique dealer group over the past 12 months has to beCentrestonewhich, despite only a modest increase in adviser numbers, moved up the rankings from 72 to 61 and boasts funds under advice of more than $1.1 billion.

According to Centrestone’s managing director Michael Pillemer, the structure and objectives of the group have been important to its growth over the past 12 months.

He says Centrestone hasn’t been driven by factors such as funds under advice or revenue, but by profit.

“Profit is what drives our business, and that makes us very different,” he says. “It means that size isn’t as important as dealing with high value clients.”

What the Top 100 table tells us about Centrestone is that its advisers are 100 per cent fee driven, something which sets them apart from a number of other boutiques.

By comparison,Matrix Planning Solutions, which also recorded a strong year, was elevated in the rankings from 43 to 39 on the back of an increase in the number of advisers from 73 to 85 and $1 billion in funds under advice, working on a 100 per cent commission basis.

Bongiorno Financial Advisers, which rose in the rankings from 50 to 41, and with $850 million in funds under advice, operates on a 20 per cent fee, 50 per cent commission and 25 per cent salary basis.