Mercantile Mutual gears for distribution

Mercantile Mutual says its distribution networks are ready for the spate of market changes expected later this year with the company’s inhouse brokerage and dealer group Mercantile Mutual Broker Services being rebranded as AustAdvisers.

Mercantile Mutual says its distribution networks are ready for the spate of market changes expected later this year with the company’s inhouse brokerage and dealer group Mercantile Mutual Broker Services being rebranded as AustAdvisers.

Chief general manager of retail distribution Les Clayton says AustAdvisers is still “in its early stages”, having only being launched this month. It currently has 40 ad-visers licensed to it but the group hopes to bring more advisers on board.

“There’s probably 80 practices which might be attracted to this solution,” Clayton says.

Mercantile Mutual managing director Rod Atfield says, apart from this, there will be no changes to his group’s distribution strategy.

“We will continue to allow our advisers to choose their products. Some groups are almost trying to push their advisers into tied distribution. We’ve always believed in the independent adviser market,” Atfield says.

"Although it’s a commonly held belief that you must control your distribution to be effective, we believe we can capture retail margins in our master trusts and wraps.”

Atfield remains nonplussed about cross endorsement requirements under CLERP 6, saying the issue is a non-event.

“This is a furphy that goes a long way back. There’s never been a problem with cross endorsement,” he says.