Significant Godfrey Pembroke-aligned financial planning firm, Ascent Private Wealth, has broken away from any move to an IOOF license by joining CountPlus-owned Count Financial.
The move is significant because it comes as other Godfrey Pembroke-aligned advice firms consider their future license coverage in the wake of IOOF’s acquisition of MLC Wealth.
Count Financial has been amongst a number of licensees vying to attract advice firms impacted by the IOOF/MLC Wealth transaction.
Count Financial has described the Melbourne-based Ascent Private Wealth move as being reflective of its growth strategy, noting that since January Count Financial had attracted 50 new financial advisers to its revamped national advice network.
The significance of the move is reflected in the fact that the founder and principal of Ascent Private Wealth, Mark O’Toole was a founding member of the Godfrey Pembroke Advisory Board.
O’Toole’s official statement around the move said Ascent’s decision to join Count Financial was made easier after discovering the cultural alignment between the respective businesses.
“As a small business, it’s important that our licensee partner operates as an extension of our practice, allowing us to tap into resources which ultimately help us to deliver advice more efficiently and effectively. Count Financial is running a clean model which has clear separation between product and advice – which is how we believe the best client outcomes can be achieved. They also have a strong balance sheet and have invested in robust compliance and technology systems to enable us to better deliver quality advice to clients.”
“Choosing a licensee comes down to more than just the service offer – it’s all about the people. They need to understand the unique challenges faced by advisers and have walked a mile in our shoes. The Count Financial team know the ins and outs of what self-employed advice businesses are confronted with and use that knowledge to help us accordingly,” O’Toole said.
Count Financial chief advice officer, Andrew Kennedy said the appointment of Ascent was an enormous boost for the licensee which continues to target quality advice firms to join its network.
