The National Australia Bank’s branch based financial planning arm has attributed a jump in revenue and referrals to what it says is a move away from product push and towards a new ‘advice-centric’ business model.
National Australia Financial Planning (NAFP) general manager Adrian Hondros said today the number of referrals made by National Australia Bank personal bankers to NAFP is up by 113 per cent from 2003.
Hondros attributed the hike to the group’s new advice business model, which has been in place since April 2003.
“We have achieved a 26 per cent increase in revenue and an average productivity gain of 21 per cent per planner since the introduction of our new advice model,” Hondros said.
He said the results reflected the bank’s decision to tie revenue generation and compensation of planners directly to financial advice and ongoing service of clients.
“The NAFP advice model is proof that bank financial planning arms can successfully tie revenue generation and compensation directly to financial planning advice and ongoing service, rather than the more traditional commission based pricing and compensation structures that exist in product oriented businesses,” Hondros said.
“We currently have around 110 000 clients being serviced by 414 financial planners across 106 teams operating under the NAFP licence. The feedback from our planners has been increasingly positive as the model has become established.”
The announcement from NAFP comes two weeks after the NAB group announced staffing changes to the MLC Advice Solutions business, with the naming of former ipac executive Christopher Wrightson to the role of general manger for MLC Alliances.
MLC Advice Solutions has responsibility for NAB’s advice businesses and include National Australia Financial Planning, Godfrey Pembroke, Apogee Financial Planning, Garvan Financial Planning, MLC Financial Planning and MLC Alliances.
