Synchron acquisition brings benefit of scale to WT Financial
The recent acquisition of Synchron by WT Financial Group will make it the third-largest financial planning group in the country by adviser numbers.
“Besides AMP and IOOF it makes us the biggest adviser network in the country. And I guess if you count them as product producers and vertically integrated, then it makes us the largest sort of non-product producing dealer group in the country or pure dealer group,” WT Financial Group’s chief executive, Keith Cullen told Money Management.
This was the second significant acquisition for the firm, which already owned Wealth Today and bought Perth-based Sentry Group last year, and it brought its adviser numbers to more than 600.
According to Money Management 2021 TOP Financial Planning Group’s survey, Synchron, which was run by John Prossor and Don Trapnell, had more than 420 advisers on its books while data from WT Financial showed it had 220 advisers across 190 practices.
Cullen said one of the key thing for his company was to get the right scale to be able to underwrite the right level of staff to service the network.
“One of the key things with Synchron that we like a lot is they have these line of state managers, each in a different state and we really like that because we did not have it as we lacked that scale. Now with that scale in the whole group, the state managers will work across the group and support advisers in their state,” he said.
“So scale can deliver really good outcomes for advisers in terms of the access to resources. We are going to keep those adviser-facing brands but we will have people work right across the group across all advisers to really get the efficiencies for both ourselves but also for advisers.”
Cullen stressed that there were no plans of getting rid of individual brands and all the adviser-facing brands (Synchron, Wealth Today and Sentry) would remain.
AUTHOR
Oksana Patron
Recommended for you
Compared to four years ago when the divide between boutique and large licensees were largely equal, adviser movements have seen this trend shift in light of new licensees commencing.
As ongoing market uncertainty sees advisers look beyond traditional equity exposure, Fidante has found adviser interest in small caps and emerging markets for portfolio returns has almost doubled since April.
CoreData has shared the top areas of demand for cryptocurrency advice but finds investors are seeking advisers who actively invest in the asset themselves.
With regulators ‘raising the bar’ on retirement planning, Lonsec Research and Ratings has urged advisers to place greater focus on sequencing and longevity risk as they navigate clients through the shifting landscape.
