Financial planners need to review their business structure - Johnstone
Sequential Project Services has announced that its new targeted review product is now being used by AMP Financial Planners Association (AFPA), Hillross Advisers Association (HAA) and General Insurance Advisers Association (GIAA) to help their members adapt to the current financial industry environment.
According to Sequential, the Business Insights program is helping licensees plug the holes in their businesses which have been left by market changes and regulatory reform.
Sequential managing director Adrian Johnstone said financial planners are often committed first to servicing their clients before considering the effect that market changes and regulatory reform will have on their business.
"Their businesses are leaky boats because they're spending such large amounts of time worrying about compliance and they're not getting the time they need to worry about their businesses and servicing their clients," Johnstone said.
As part of the independent review undertaken by Sequential, Johnstone said he often sees a lot of the operational processes being double-handled, or as clerical duties that an administrator could undertake.
Johnstone said as a result of market changes, business owners are now - for the first time in most cases - starting to ask some serious questions about running a compliant business. Owners are typically not well equipped to review their practice themselves because they are too emotionally connected, he said.
"They (practice owners) feel their business needs help but they can't see where. Businesses are not structured against the new world," he 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.
