Financial Wisdom faces mass exodus
Two senior executives at Financial Wisdom, national manager Brian Dau and Victorian state manager, Theo Christopoulos have broken ranks to establish their own boutique dealer, Meritum Financial Group.
It is understood the move of the two executives is the first of many with up to 20 top advisers at Financial Wisdom slated to depart in a nation-wide exodus.
The new group will be based in Melbourne and has obtained its Australian Financial Services Licence with the help of .Aviva
The links to Aviva go back a number of years, as incumbent chief executive Alan Griffiths was previously head of dealer groups atColonial- a position which included responsibility for Financial Wisdom.
Serious moves to break away are reported to have commenced before Christmas, with observers saying the development has its origins in Commonwealth’s takeover of Colonial and a subsequent attempt by the bank to put its stamp on the independently minded Financial Wisdom planners.
The imminent departure of the band of advisers will follow a raft of recent changes at the CBA-owned dealer group.
At the end of 2003, in a response to adviser demands for more support to grow their businesses, a broader range of choice on the approved product list, more leads, and improvements to dealer operations support, the group agreed to waive new licence fees and expand the recommended list.
“While the Commonwealth has had market share for providing traditional banking services to business markets, the advice proposition to date has been modest. We want to grow it fundamentally - both in terms of quality and the number of people we provide it to,” financial planning and advice services executive general manager Brett Himbury said at the time.
The move comes as a blow to Financial Wisdom, which has been widely voicing its plans to significantly boost planner numbers.
As part of this push Financial Wisdom recently appointed formerFiducian Portfolio Serviceswealth management head, Paul Barrett, to lead the dealer group’s effort to increase planner numbers by working on its value proposition to the market.
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