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.