The purchase ofMLCby the National Australia group in 2000 has left a deeper impact on both groups than may be apparent on the surface.
National Australia Financial Planning(NAFP) has been growing steadily, but it has only been since late last year that the holistic style of planning prevalent in MLC’s dealer groups made its way into NAFP.
Part of this included the transfer of Adrian Hondros from his role as the managing director ofGodfrey Pembroketo the same position in NAFP in November last year.
Hondros says that move was part of a greater shake-up of the bank’s advisers, which saw the salaried channels bundled into one stream under the NAFP title. This added about 40 planners, but he also recognises NAFP had experienced growth of more than 70 planners since 1999.
As part of the move to a holistic approach, Hondros says recruits will be sourced from a variety of backgrounds apart from financial planning, and will also include a large number of younger planners.
However, the group will also adopt MLC’s advice team structure of a senior planner, a planner and a wealth manager, who will cover all client types.
“The most successful self-employed planners use such a structure and we will roll it out to our salaried planners in the coming months,” Hondros says.
According to Hondros, these moves have paid off with nearly 50 planners set to come online in the coming months, but he says keeping the planners is the issue NAFP must deal with.
This will happen with the continuing shift to the advice model in place, with planners able to choose between commission and fee-based remuneration, and the career development path available through the tiered team structure.
