ING to merge dealer groups
ING Australia(INGA) will merge five of its nine distribution outlets into three dealer groups, withRetireInvestthe only brand to retain its name and identity after the shakeup and resulting in the loss of planners across some of the groups.
RetireInvest will be one of the three groups remaining after the integration of the groups and, according to INGA head of distribution Mike Goodall, will remain unchanged.
The other businesses to be merged are planning groupPartnership Planning, AustAdvisers andLynx. Superannuation administration and consulting group Super Concepts will remain but extend its offering across the three new groups.
The other two dealer group businesses will be based around Partnership Planning and AustAdvisers for high net worth clients and Lynx for the wealth accumulators market.
The two new groups have already been named by INGA but the new titles will be released in late August at a series of adviser roadshows.
Goodall says as a result of the merger the three dealer group models would target the core markets of small business operators, wealth accumulators and pre- and post- retirees, areas which the company identified through research conducted earlier this year.
Goodall also says the two newly formed groups will have around 300 planners each after the restructuring is complete while RetireInvest would retain its numbers.
He says this does mean that planner numbers across the group will decrease. At present Partenership Planning has 115 planners and Lynx has 160 while AustAdvisers has 23.
Goodall says the drop in number will be due to a number of planners being unable to meet new benchmarks being set by the group as well as a number of planners uncomfortable with the changes.
“Our advisers have seen the logic in these moves but we expect some to move on, that’s just human nature and we can’t stop that,” Goodall says.
However, Goodall expects planner numbers to grow in 2003 as more advisers outside dealer groups, who are already aligned with ING, seek a permanent home to help deal with the cost of professional indemnity insurance and the Financial Services Reform Act.
AUTHOR
Jason Spits
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