CIS lands biggest single client account, by George
Victorian-based financial planning firm CIS Financial Services has landed its biggest single client account following Asgard’s recent successful tender to provide its services to technology group Alcatel’s six superannuation funds.
The deal gives CIS access to up to 1300 Alcatel superannuation fund members. CIS has focussed its financial planning business on the corporate superannuation market.
CIS director Rex Claringbold says the deal will bring the number of CIS clients to "around 5000".
Claringbold says his firm was approached by Asgard for the tender due to a similarity in cultures between the two groups. General manager of Asgard group employee services George Haramis supports this view.
Haramis also says that CIS is "one of the biggest advisory groups who use Asgard", making them a logical choice to tender, despite Asgard's parent company Sealcorp having inhouse planning groups Securitor, Pact and St George Financial Planning.
The deal could prove even more lucrative for CIS, with Haramis saying the mandate is the first of many in the corporate superannuation market for the master trust giant.
"While we've been in the corporate market for a short time, we've proved we can provide the services to this market and also can offer add-on services such as advisory services, training services and a good technology platform," Haramis says.
Recommended for you
A strong demand for core fixed income solutions has seen the Betashares Australian Composite Bond ETF surpass $1 billion in funds under management, driven by both advisers and investors.
As the end of the year approaches, two listed advice licensees have seen significant year-on-year improvement in their share price with only one firm reporting a loss since the start of 2025.
Having departed Magellan after more than 18 years, its former head of investment Gerald Stack has been appointed as chief executive of MFF Group.
With scalability becoming increasingly important for advice firms, a specialist consultant says organisational structure and strategic planning can be the biggest hurdles for those chasing growth.
