C’wealth advisers choose Finwiz over bank brand

THE majority of the Commonwealth Bank’s commission-based financial planners have chosen to operate under the Financial Wisdom banner rather than adopt the Commonwealth’s own institutionally branded dealer group.

Commonwealth Bank general manager of dealerships Jerome Bleijie has confirmed that 60 per cent of the group’s 500 or so commission-based planners have opted for Financial Wisdom after they were asked to choose between it, and the bank’s institutionally branded dealership, Commonwealth Financial Solutions.

In April, the Commonwealth Bank gave Financial Wisdom and the then Colonial Financial Services planners the opportunity to choose the dealer group they wanted to operate under.

The bank also announced it would re-name Colonial Financial Services to Commonwealth Financial Solutions.

Bleijie says while most Financial Wisdom planners opted to remain with the independently branded dealer group, those previously attached to Colonial Financial Services were faced with a much tougher decision.

“It was a bit of an issue for the people who were used to presenting themselves under the Colonial Financial Services title, as they had to make a clear choice between switching to Financial Wisdom or the new institutional brand,” he says.

The Commonwealth has now embarked on a marketing campaign, featuring billboards, as well as magazine and newspaper ads, to build awareness of the Financial Wisdom brand.

Bleijie says it was not a concern for the Commonwealth that more planners had chosen Financial Wisdom over the institutionally branded option.