Londsdale begins expansion push
Lonsdale Financial Group has increased its existing dealer group base to 79 practices and 174 planners by signing up three new planning practices and one risk insurance advisory firm.
Three of the new additions to the Lonsdale Group are based in Victoria, with the other based on the Gold Coast.
They are Melbourne-based Complete Risk Analysis, The Money Growers situated in Cheltenham, Lifetime Advice located in Niddrie, and Lynrob Financial Planning based in Southport on the Gold Coast.
The Money Growers and Lynrob are essentially start-up businesses, while Complete Risk moved across to Lonsdale from the MLC-owned Apogee financial planning dealer group.
Lonsdale chief executive Mario Modica indicated that singing up the four firms was in line with the organisation’s long-term growth goals.
“We’d like to get to a target of 110 firms within the next three years … working on the basis of two authorised representatives per firm as an average, it’s going to be around 220 to 225 advisers,” he said.
In the shorter-term, Modica said Lonsdale were looking to add another 15 practices before the end of 2006 to take the number of firms in the dealership to around 90.
Modica cited Lonsdale’s support structures as one of the main reasons the four new practices decided to join the dealer group.
“We average one business manager to 25 practices, ensuring that each business receives the attention and support they need to do their business well,” he said.
Recommended for you
A former Sydney investment manager has pleaded guilty to two counts of insider trading regarding a potential takeover of Platinum Asset Management, having acquired $2.6 million of Platinum shares.
As the firm enters a new growth phase, Orbis Investments managing director Jason Ciccolallo has said it is looking to strengthen relationships with retail advisers to align with the firm’s institutional reputation.
The former director of United Global Capital has received a decision from the Administrative Review Tribunal regarding an appeal of his 10-year ban from providing financial services.
AMP-owned North has announced a senior manager appointment as the platform explores growth opportunities in its addressable adviser market.