Fantastic time to consider a career in advice: Insignia CEO

It is a fantastic time to consider a career in financial advice, according to Insignia Financial, because demand is currently outstripping supply and it will always be valued by consumers.

Speaking with Money Management, chief executive Renato Mota said Insignia Financial, formerly known as IOOF, was committed to investing in advice and that the future of financial advice had never been brighter.

However, Wealth Data statistics told a different story, showing that while there had been a recent surge in new and Professional Year advisers, numbers were not offsetting those leaving the industry, with 2021 seeing a net change of -3,284 advisers.

With new entrants a key part of creating a healthy industry, Mota was asked whether he would support a Government-funded apprenticeship model, such as was raised last week by the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) chief executive, Phil Anderson.

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Mota said Insignia would be supportive of anything that allowed and created some natural avenues to grow the adviser pool.

“We think it’s a noble profession and is one that is growing,” he said.

In terms of what avenues could be explored, Mota said it was one of the things the firm was looking forward to participating in when the advice review kicked off later this year.

“As one of the largest advice businesses in the country, we’re committed to supporting the advice industry and it will be really interesting to, as an industry, see what kind of ways we can come up with,” Rota said.

Last week, Insignia Financial delivered a strong half-year profit with underlying net profit after tax jumping to $117.9 million, up 79% on the previous corresponding period, following the acquisition of MLC Wealth in May last year.

Insignia’s half-year results revealed the firm’s integration with MLC was likely to be completed by the end of 2022, 18 months ahead of schedule.

“If you reflect on the acquisition of MLC, which I think at the time was considered a bold acquisition -that strategy delivered results, and that strategy revolves around financial wellbeing and it revolves around a commitment to financial advice,” Mota said.

“So we’re delivering results and we’re doing what we said we would do and part of that is supporting financial advice and the continued evolution of financial advice.”

Mota said a key tenant of Insignia’s growth strategy was finding scale in simplification in order to lower costs.

“So the learning for us is those simplification benefits are real, we’ve seen that in the results, and so much that we’re bringing forward our commitment to deliver on the synergies.”

Looking forward, Mota said the firm would continue to deliver on its commitments.

“A lot of that revolves around the benefits of scale and continuing to drive simplification – equally it’s about delivering better products and services and having that underpin our continued growth of the business.”