Rural bank plants community planning seeds

Agriculture finance specialist Rabobank has set its sights on the growing market for advice in rural areas, after moving to take full ownership of its financial planning subsidiary.

The group, which had owned 65 per cent of Rabo Financial Advisors (RFA), announced yesterday it had bought out Boyce Chartered Accountants to take 100 per cent ownership of the business.

RFA was set up in 2002 as a joint venture between Rabobank and Boyce. It has offices in the NSW rural towns of Cooma, Dubbo, Goulburn, Moree, Orange, Tamworth and Wagga Wagga, providing advice to farming clients on financial planning, insurance and risk management.

Rabobank head of financial services Bryan Inch told Money Management the buyout was a precursor to plans to expand the group to other states in Australia, and into New Zealand.

He said Rabobank would provide capital for the expansion, which could include acquisitions, as well a strategic links with financial planners and accountants in rural areas.

“There are a lot of increasing compliance issues over the last year and there are a lot of smaller regional accountants who are struggling with these issues and looking for other ways of providing their services and we are looking to align with them,” he said.

While the alliance with Boyce had been fruitful, it was not in tune with plans to expand RFA, Inch said.

“To grow the business and take it nationwide was more in Rabobank’s appetitie,” he said.

However, Boyce will maintain a link with RFA, entering into an agreement to refer financial planning business to the group in regional NSW.

Inch said there was increasing demand for specialist financial advice in rural areas.

“Certainly farmers are increasingly treating their business as a business and they are looking at their returns as a business and looking to spread their risks,” Inch said.