The Association of Independently Owned Financial Planners (AIOFP) has set up a master trust service for its member groups.
AIOFP executive vice-president Peter Johnston says the AIOFP Board has set up the master trust to gain further control over the funds being put through master trusts.
“In the past five years, the original owners of master trusts such as Asgard and Flexiplan have walked away with a lot of money,” he says.
“By taking an equity position in their own master trust company, independent financial planning groups would profit from the sale of the master trust.”
Johnston says the master trust already has close to $50 million under administration. He says there are a few final adjustments to its current arrangement still to be made which should be completed in about a month.
The Association currently has 20 dealer groups representing about 300 advisers and is looking to expand, although Johnston says it is difficult to find a good independent group that has not already been acquired by an institution.
Becoming a member of this consortium of dealer groups is by invitation only, and Johnston says the AIOFP has strict eligibility criteria, including having five authorised representatives and being independently owned.
“I personally check culture and credibility. We see ourselves as working together, not against each other, and it is important that members in each state get on politically.”
Groups in the Northern Territory and Tasmania are especially of interest to Johnston, to strengthen national distribution.
“Part of the marketing advantage of the Association is we can approach large companies and offer national distribution and choice, with two to four dealer groups in one state. There is no other big licensed dealer with firms right around Australia, so we have a significant competitive advantage,” Johnston says.
The AIOFP are currently involved with the 15,000 Telstra redundancies through The Career Transition Consortium (TCTC), the financial planning panel who will advise redundant staff. Along with RetireInvest and the Commonwealth Bank, AIOFP are working on what Johnston calls “the biggest redundancy job in Australia”.
The association has also been appointed to the Holden downsizing job in Melbourne and South Australia, and in the past 12 months has worked on other programs through the Australian Financial Career Consortium including the Heinz-Wattle closure and the Mitsubishi Motors and VISY industries downsizing.
