Mortgage Choice to double adviser numbers in wider financial services push
Mortgage Choice will continue to push into financial planning and aims to double the number of planners working in partnership with its brokers over the next 12 months, with a target of 60 planners by June 2015.
In announcing its annual results yesterday Mortgage Choice chief executive Michael Russell said the group was engaged in a three year strategy to become a wider financial services business and was expanding its financial adviser network while increasing referral opportunities from home loan customers.
At the same time the group aimed to expand the contribution to total revenue from its non-mortgage lending activities, including financial planning, from around five per cent to 10 per cent according to Mortgage Choice spokesperson Jessica Darnbrough.
The group was on target to employing 60 planners by June 2015, up from the 33 currently employed under the group's own Australian Financial Services licence, which had grown from 11 planners since the launch of advice within the group in June of last year.
Planners who have been recruited to Mortgage Choice have mainly come from other financial services institutions according to Darnbrough and work within Mortgage Choice branches in partnership with brokers but in separate roles.
According to information released as part of the results presentation Mortgage Choice Financial Planning can offer products from Macquarie, OnePath, Asteron Life, MLC, TAL and CommInsure with self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) administration handled by Mode SMSF and managed funds research provided by Morningstar.
Darnbrough said the planning arm of Mortgage Choice was on track to turn a profit on a monthly basis during 2015 and the group has reduced its expected capital expenditure to reach that point from $3 million to $2.5 million.
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