Precedent and BankWest do distribution deal

A new joint venture between WA-based Precedent Financial Services and BankWest will see funds under advice for the venture top $1.2 bil-lion.

A new joint venture between WA-based Precedent Financial Services and BankWest will see funds under advice for the venture top $1.2 bil-lion.

BankWest national financial services general manager John McGurk says the deal will also signal the phasing in of fee for service for the bank's two planning groups, TrustWest and Terrace Counsellors.

"We'll be talking to customers and we'll start to use the same sys-tems as Precedent, which over time, would mean moving to fee for service," McGurk says.

As part of the venture, BankWest will have access to Precedent's man-agement systems, including the Lifetime Asset Management Programme (LAMP) master trust, and will also gain exposure to Precedent's high net worth client base.

"BankWest used to be a state bank and as a consequence we have a fair profile of mums and dads in our database. We characterise ourselves as being middle market," McGurk says.

Precedent's co-owner and director Craig Lubich says the deal will give his group greater access to BankWest's 600,000-strong customer base.

"We wanted to increase our distribution. This has been our strategy, and one of the reasons we acquired KPMG's planning group here in Perth," he says.

The final framework of the venture, as yet not ultimately set, will be complete by September 1.