Sequoia restructure to see 10% headcount reduction

Sequoia Financial Group has announced it is restructuring its business and reducing headcount by 10 per cent.

The firm said it will move from having four reporting divisions to having two for FY2024–25; the new divisions will be licensee and adviser services, and legal and administration services.

Licensee and adviser services will include InterPrac Financial Planning, Sequoia Financial Advice, Sequoia Family Office, Sequoia Corporate Finance, Sequoia Wealth Management, Sequoia Asset Management, and Sequoia Specialist Investments. It will also include its content arm Informed Investor, ShareCafe, and Corporate Connect Research which was acquired in March 2022.

The legal and administration services arm will include Castle Corporate, Constitute, NTAA Corporate and Panthercorp, Docscentre Legal, and Sequoia Superannuation.

Its equity investments in Euree Asset Management and Morrison Securities will be reported to head office.

“This change is designed to enhance the focus of our executive team and reduce our cost base in terms of headcount by 10 per cent,” the firm said in an ASX statement.

It also announced several people changes in terms of executive leadership.

Brent Jones, who was slated to join the Sequoia board if a shareholder vote had been approved last month, has left the company. 

An extraordinary general meeting (EGM) was held on 5 June seeking to remove chief executive Garry Crole and director Kevin Pattison, and to appoint Jones and Peter Brook as replacement directors. Jones has been the firm’s head of professional services since December 2017. He previously spent 15 years as managing director of InterPrac which was acquired by Sequoia in 2017. Brook has been the chair of Diverger – which was recently acquired by Count – since December 2021, having previously been chair of Xplore Wealth in 2019.

At the time, the relevant shareholders said they wanted to improve corporate governance and create a more focused and profitable business. A direct criticism raised by the shareholders was the acquisition of ShareCafe in 2022 which had taken a long time to integrate and caused “short-term pain” which led its Direct Division to fall short of the EBITDA budget by $500,000.

Jones will be replaced by Stephen Harvey, who will head up legal and administration services and is currently a director of Docscentre Legal. 

Hamish McCathie has been appointed as an executive for Sequoia Wealth Management, Sequoia Specialist Investments, and Sequoia Asset Management. He is currently an existing director of Sequoia Wealth Management and Sequoia Asset Management.

Lizzie Tan, current chief financial officer (CFO) and joint company secretary, has been appointed to the dual role of CFO and chief operating officer. This will see her “champion and drive change management, operational excellence and process enhancement for the group”.