Direct Portfolio hits adviser market
Direct Portfolio Services is to target financial advisers for distribution of its share portfolio service.
It is the first time the group has expanded its distribution reach beyond the direct market since launching in 1996.
Founder and chief executive John Aldersley says he initially approached accountants and financial planners when he started up the group but the reaction from advisers was to "wait and see" how the service developed.
"The service has now been operating for nearly five years and we now have more than 800 clients with $100 million under management. We are now ready to provide back-up for advisers," Aldersley says.
Direct Portfolio hired former Davey Financial Management and UBS Private Client executive Robert Calkhoven as general manager in August last year with a brief to streamline the group's structure and spearhead the push into the advisory market.
Calkhoven says the group will be actively seeking partnerships with financial planners, accountants and even stockbrokers for the share portfolio service.
He says many financial planners and accountants have difficulty efficiently managing the share portfolios of their clients.
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