Count secures Godfrey Pembroke and IOOF firms

Count Financial has again emerged as a factor in the migration of MLC advisers to IOOF and the retention of advisers working under IOOF licenses.

Count Financial has picked up three new firms which previously worked under MLC and IOOF licenses, including Godfrey Pembroke.

The firms are Sydney-based Plan Protect and YS Financial Planning as well as Financial Stability from Melbourne.

Competition to attract IOOF and MLC Wealth firms has been strong since IOOF announced its acquisition of the MLC Wealth business in the middle of last year.

Plan Protect operated under the Godfrey Pembroke license and is the third Godfrey Pembroke aligned firm to joint Count Financial with Ascent Private Wealth and Venture Financial Advisers having joined Count late last year.

Both Financial Stability and YS Financial Planning were previously part of the IOOF network.

Plan Protect principal, Janne Ashton has been part of the firm since its inception and acknowledged that changing licensees represented a significant move and that she had actually shortlisted 10 differed licensees.

Of the other two firms – Financial Stability and YS Financial Planning – Financial Stability is led by Sonia Turkovic, who has over 30 years’ experience in financial planning, and has featured strongly on radio and in print articles across Melbourne media during her career, while YS Financial Planning is headed by Yasu Kuramochi who established the business in 2015.

Commenting on the moves by the three firms, Count Financial chief advice officer, Andrew Kennedy said the business had been targeting quality advice firms to join its network.

He said the appointment of Plan Protect represented a significant couple for Count.

With respect to Financial Stability and YS Financial Planning, Kennedy said that Turkovic and Kuramochi were quality financial advisers who would bring experience and expertise to the Count network while being a great cultural fit for the Count Financial community.