BT Select careful in recruiting AFS practices

BT Select had undertaken substantial due diligence on those Australian Financial Services (AFS) practices it sought to recruit earlier this year, according to BT Select managing director Phil Butterworth. 

BT Select had recruited around six of the AFS practices, but Butterworth acknowledged that some of the issues which had surrounded the former dealer group were such that an extensive due diligence process had been undertaken to ensure they would represent an appropriate fit. 

Butterworth’s confirmation of the processes followed with respect to the AFS practices which had joined BT Select came at the same time as he confirmed that around 50 practices had now joined the grouping, and that this could rise to as many as 60 practices by the end of the year. 

He said that, ultimately, BT Select might represent a “community” of 100 practices, but that the ultimate number might also be lower in circumstances where the focus was on quality and cultural fit rather than quantity. 

Butterworth said BT Select was particularly identifying multi-planner, multi-staff practices generating well in excess of $1 million. 

He said that in many instances those practices joining BT Select were seeking the comfort of the scale provided by BT Financial Group, particularly in terms of FOFA implementation and compliance.