Ones to watch in 2006
Corinna Dieters
Taking over from Kathryn Greiner as the new chair of the Financial Planning Association (FPA), Dieters was instrumental in pushing through the FPA’s new codes of conduct on soft dollar payments. Her ambition for the next year is to improve the level of professionalism and standards of all FPA members.
Dazza
The mullet-haired star of the FPA’s new Value of Advice campaign will continue to appear in the television and print media over the next three years. So will he convince middle class Australians to visit a financial planner? Stay tuned.
Glen Castensen & Mike Pillemer
The merger between high-net-worth financial planning groups Centrestone Wealth Management and the Berkley Group was a move designed to maintain their independence. The relaunched group, Centric Wealth, currently has $3 billion in funds under management, and may list on the ASX in the next three years.
Andrew Barlow
Founder of Hitwise, and now chief executive officer of Maxsuper, Barlow aims to become a serious rival to Virgin Super in the low-fee, low-cost super arena. Aimed at the same age demographic as Virgin Super, can Maxsuper’s web chatrooms and 24/7 access win over the youth of Australia?
Barry Lambert
In order to further grow his empire, Barry Lambert is now offering Count Financial planner options in the company if they succeed in driving new clients to his mortgage origination business ProfitPlus, although Lambert says the option arrangement may be extended to other product areas in the future. As Australia’s fourth largest dealer group, Count continues to grow rapidly, with earnings increasing by 51 per cent in the last financial year.
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