RI Advice research team going it alone
The investment research team at ANZ-owned RI Advice Group is leaving to set up a portfolio construction company in partnership with Ray Miles' Fortnum Financial Group.
The team, led by Dinyar Irani, first moved together to RI Advice Group from AXA-owned Genesys Wealth Advisers 18 months ago. They're now leaving to enter a joint-venture arrangement with Fortnum, of which RI Advice Group owns a 20 per cent stake.
The three other members of the team leaving to start the new company are Dan Miles, Diego Mainou and Cameron Sinclair.
RI Advice Group chief executive Paul Campbell said the group's transition out of the business would take place over the next six months. Campbell said the company would maintain an ongoing relationship with Irani and his team in their new company, and would outsource the management of RI Advice model portfolios to the company for at least the next six months and very likely for a longer period.
“The guys have got a huge track record with their model portfolio. I’ve worked with them for 12 years,” Campbell said.
“The key thing for us is ensuring that the advisers who have embraced the model portfolios can continue to have confidence in them. We’ll continue to have a relationship with them so long as we feel that we need their input into the model portfolios to maintain that confidence. It won’t be indefinite, but it will be as long as necessary.”
Campbell said the group was now recruiting for replacements for the team, and while they're aiming for four new recruits, the new team structure is likely to look somewhat different.
RI Advice Group would continue to use research from three external research houses, with its primary external research supplier being Mercer, supported by van Eyk Research and Morningstar, Campbell said.
Campbell, also a former Genesys Wealth Advisers executive, said Irani's team had played a key role in re-establishing the in-house research capability within RI Advice Group and that it was an amicable split. Campbell said the group was focused on maintaining its in-house research capability in the future.
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