WHK’s two pronged attack
The WHK group has begun its push to grow its financial services activities in the Sydney market via internal and external means, with the opening of a Prescott Securities office in the nation’s largest capital city at the end of May.
“The overall reason why Prescott expanded into Sydney is to get a stronger presence for our group in that market and a faster growth rate. We’ve historically had a financial planning business in Sydney with our WHK firm, and what we’re really doing is running two financial planning brands in the group,” WHK group chief operating officer Graeme Fowler said.
“The WHK business is to target or work with the clients of our accounting firm, so most of the growth is coming internally. For the Prescott business on the other hand, most of the growth is coming externally to our accounting firm, and in many instances its relationships with outside accounting groups, but they’re really looking at key targets outside our accounting firm,” he said.
While the Prescott name is well established in South Australia, it is relatively unknown in the Sydney market, but Fowler does not see this as an impediment to WHK’s aggressive growth objective.
“We think Prescott can bring quality of advice to the Sydney market, and with Peter Williams [founder and former principal of WHK Greenwoods] as one of the key drivers of that brand in Sydney, who is well known in the market, we think he will help that brand develop quite quickly,” Fowler said.
To reinforce the fact that one group is effectively targeting two different client markets, both WHK Financial Services and Prescott are using the same advice and operating processes. This practise is to ensure the advice and types of services offered to clients by both businesses are consistent.
In regard to WHK Financial Services, the move is being seen as an opportunity to revitalise the business.
“I guess it has allowed us to ensure everyone’s on the same page a little bit more. The team’s a bit younger now and we’re probably a bit more open-minded to new practises, and that may allow us to grow the business at a slightly more rapid rate,” WHK Financial Services adviser Samuel Mantarro said.
The initiative means the WHK group has half a dozen advisers in Sydney under its umbrella, controlling over $600 million worth of assets.
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