Planner groups told to think globally
Australian financial planning groups are being encouraged to expand overseas and tap into a number of under-serviced markets that present a bevy of advice opportunities.
According to ThinkGlobal managing director David Thomas, the Australian industry has done little to export its expertise, experience and knowledge to offshore markets to date.
“In Australia, we have a highly regulated competitive market that everybody’s fighting over, while over in Asia, for instance, there’s a whole green-field of opportunities that aren’t being seized,” he says.
The former US specialist consultant Communi(K) executive says Australian financial services companies looking to expand need to consider overseas options ahead of greater diversification domestically.
“The middle class in Asia is growing and there’s a huge opportunity to address their unfounded retirement issues, as unlike Australia, they don’t have a very well organised financial planning regime,” Thomas says.
Last week, legal firm Mallesons Stephens Jaques announced a merger with Hong Kong’s Kwok and Yih, and Thomas says financial services companies should be looking for similar deals to break into Asia.
“With one deal, Malle-sons now has access to a network across China.
“In China, there are a trillion dollars in cash that will have to find their way into asset management over the next 20 years,” he says.
Thomas says for groups not wanting to form alliances with locally domiciled firms, companies can get themselves licensed in a given country and make three or four trips each year to visit clients.
Recommended for you
With the final tally for FY25 now confirmed, how many advisers left during the financial year and how does it compare to the previous year?
HUB24 has appointed Matt Willis from Vanguard as an executive general manager of platform growth to strengthen the platform’s relationships with industry stakeholders.
Investment manager Drummond Capital Partners has announced a raft of adviser-focused updates, including a practice growth division, relaunched manager research capabilities, and a passive model portfolio suite.
When it comes to M&A activity, the share of financial buyers such as private equity firms in Australia fell from 67 per cent to 12 per cent in the last financial year.
