Westpac poised for new dawn with Sunrise
Westpac advisers that aren’t Certified Financial Planners (CFP) have been given 18 months to attain the designation if they wish to progress within the organisation. The move is part of the bank’s revamp of its dealership business under Project Sunrise, which is nearing its conclusion.
Head of financial planning and advice Justin Greiner says Sunrise, which has been in progress for close to a year, is aimed at ensuring all of the group’s planners are operating on the same level.
“We have been guilty of not providing a career path for our planners. If planners expect to advance in the organisation they’ll be expected to have CFP status. It will be a pre-requisite to becoming an executive planner,” Greiner says.
According to Greiner, the implementation of Sunrise has commenced, with the project set for a full roll-out over the next few months.
“The priorities are to bed down a new customer allocation system that’s rolling out through Sunrise and we also have a new remuneration structure in place where the advisers are actually going to be able to share in the revenue they’re generating from the business,” he says.
Greiner says the group is also looking at ways its advice business can better sit between BT Financial Group and Westpac itself.
As part of this move Westpac has signed-up former Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) general manager dealership services Chris Davies, along with two other staffers in the advice area.
Davies has been given a mandate to oversee the operation of the financial planning business, which includes paraplanning, learning and development, customer management, technical services and technology.
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