Sanders heads up mass Wealthpoint departures
By Fiona Moore
WealthpointFinancial Services has shed some 60 staff in preparation for its recently announced integration with AdviserNet, including its own chief executive officer Brett Sanders.
Sanders, who has been with the St George/Sealcorp group for the past 14 years, says he has known for some time that in his role of restructuring the business and eliminating duplication with Wealthpoint, his own departure could be inevitable.
“We have presumed for quite some time that the final act might be me throwing myself on my sword,” he says
The departures follow on from the recent news that the Wealthpoint software system would be rolled into AdviserNet, the software platform available to planners under the Sealcorp banner.
However, the process of eliminating the duplication in the business with Wealthpoint, effectively began last December with the sale of Hot Copper, Bourse Data and finally Faulkner Stockbroking.
Sanders confirmed the “staggered departures” of employees from Wealthpoint, which include 28 permanent staff and between 30 and 35 contractors, has taken place over the past six weeks since the process of integrating the two businesses first began in June.
Sanders says while the business had been in a heavy building phase, the job losses are from the areas in the Wealthpoint business where there is now overlap with AdviserNet. This mainly includes the areas involved with building software, including customer databases and portfolio manager tools.
While most of the job losses are from IT roles, jobs were also lost from the development team, managerial positions, and the areas of product management and sales.
The integration of the two businesses follows the Bain review of St George’s investment services division conducted earlier this year.
Sanders says over the next three to six months, Wealthpoint does not have plans to add or subtract any further staff.
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