Aon enters planning
Consulting group Aon is to launch a local financial planning business in June in a bid to keep clients from seeking its services elsewhere.
Consulting group Aon is to launch a local financial planning business in June in a bid to keep clients from seeking its services elsewhere.
According to recently appointed Aon Financial Planning and Protection (AFPP) general manager John Lindsay, until now the group has partly outsourced financial planning work but is rolling out the new network to comply with licensing changes under CLERP 6.
"So far in Australia Aon's bent has been towards general insurance and risk con-sulting and that had led to the outsourcing of financial planning," Lindsay says.
“The creation of AFPP is the next transition in the positioning of the organisation not only under the new laws but also in offering a full range of financial services.”
The new group will operate as a licensed securities dealer and registered life insur-ance broker.
The new group has not yet signed on any advisers but Lindsay expects the first six to join shortly after launch. The group plans to have 50 advisers within a year.
“We plan to actively recruit in June and July and our first targets will be those planners who have long term relationships with Aon already,” Lindsay says.
The network will start its rollout from Brisbane and will be headquartered in Syd-ney with an aim to develop a presence in every state.
The new network will also sit along side the existing Aon Financial Advisor Services Limited (AFAS) which has more than 300 advisers involved in insurance, business succession and income protection advice.
“There will be opportunities for planners in many situations to make use of Aon in-cluding those in-house, independent or individuals and those planners in regional ar-eas.”
The announcement comes only weeks after Aon’s purchase of the Australian Super-annuation Group (TASG) which it added to its own superannuation capabilities.
The group is now involved in underwriting, insurance, actuarial and risk services, master trust administration and trustee services as well as superannuation and finan-cial planning.
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Jason Spits
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