Dealer group turf war hits nearly half

The extent of the current dealer group turf war has been revealed by new Wealth Insights research revealing around 44 per cent of the financial planners surveyed had been approached to move to a rival dealer group.

The research also revealed that those most affected were planners within the Count Financial group recently acquired by the Commonwealth Bank – which is known to have been targeted by BT Magnitude.

Wealth Insights managing director Vanessa McMahon said that of the Count Financial advisers covered by her company’s survey process, 74 per cent said they had been approached by a rival dealer group to change allegiance in the past few months.

However, she pointed out that Count planners were not the only practitioners being approached – with around half of NAB/MLC and Professional Investment Services financial planners surveyed also revealing they had been approached by rival dealer groups.

McMahon said that while it was the first time her company had asked the question of planners, she regarded the results as compelling, and fully reflective of current events in the financial planning industry.

She said it seemed to confirm the existence of a turf war between major groups and the pressure on some dealer groups to retain financial planners in the face of strongly competitive behaviour by rival organisations.

McMahon said the decision by Wealth Insights to test the issue with financial planners had followed recent reports in Money Management and elsewhere suggesting lucrative offers had been made to Count Financial planners by BT Magnitude.

Similarly, MLC was openly pursuing AXA-aligned planners in the wake of AXA Asia-Pacific having been acquired by AMP.

While BT Magnitude is understood to have been the most aggressive group looking to pick up Count Financial planners, other small groups have also sought to attract practices to their brands.