Counting on success



Chris Freeman
BT Financial Group will remain an approved platform provider for financial services group Count Financial for the next five years.
The independently-owned dealer group currently administers more than $5 billion in funds in Count-badged versions of BT’s wrap platforms, a figure that is expected to double in five years.
Commenting on the deal, BT Financial Group head of wrap solutions Chris Freeman said the Count-BT relationship spans 20 years, and Count has been one of the largest contributors to the development and evolution of the wrap platform, having played a significant role in shaping some of BT’s recent platform developments.
“As one of Australia’s largest platforms, we’ve been able to use our scale to invest back into our platform to improve functionality, deliver straight-through-processing enhancements, fully integrate systems such as life insurance and margin lending and work with some of Australia’s largest fund managers to reduce the cost of investing through programs such as BT Wrap Advantage,” Freeman said.
Count Financial chief executive Marianne Perkovic said the comprehensive nature of BT’s platforms means Count advisers can fulfil a range of investment, superannuation, gearing and insurance needs across a diverse customer base.
“BT’s commitment to the platform space has led to considerable investment to improve systems and integrate new functionality that makes it easier and faster for our advisers to manage their clients’ needs,” Perkovic said.
Recommended for you
With the final tally for FY25 now confirmed, how many advisers left during the financial year and how does it compare to the previous year?
HUB24 has appointed Matt Willis from Vanguard as an executive general manager of platform growth to strengthen the platform’s relationships with industry stakeholders.
Investment manager Drummond Capital Partners has announced a raft of adviser-focused updates, including a practice growth division, relaunched manager research capabilities, and a passive model portfolio suite.
When it comes to M&A activity, the share of financial buyers such as private equity firms in Australia fell from 67 per cent to 12 per cent in the last financial year.