Platform and tech boosts Bell results
Bell Financial Group has reported a pre-tax profit of $23.5 million and a 7% increase in revenue to $129 million in the first half of 2020.
In an announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), the firm said funds under advice were down 7% on the first half of 2019 to $54.4 billion.
Financial advisory arm Bell Potter had 325 financial advisers servicing 500,000 retail, wholesale and institutional client accounts with $54.2 million in gross brokerage revenue, up 17%.
The firm said it continued to invest in its platform and technology which resulted in platform and technology revenue increasing by 42% to $12.2 million.
Technology included Fusion, a desktop application covering areas such as compliance, research, markets, lending and workflow as well as a third party clearing platform.
“This initiative is a significant component of our ongoing business development with increased leverage to technology producing better outcomes for our staff and clients,” the firm said in the statement.
Executive chair, Alastair Provan, said: “Given the circumstances we have found ourselves in over the past few months, it is very pleasing to be in a position to report such a strong half-year result. Both our retail and wholesale broking divisions performed well and our continued investment in products, services, technology and platforms is being rewarded”.
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
Recommended for you
Passive ETFs are seeing stronger flows than their active counterparts despite the proliferation of active launches this year, according to Morningstar.
Former CEO of Global X ETFs Australia, Evan Metcalf, has taken up a new position at a specialist ETF provider.
BlackRock has expanded its iShares fixed-income ETF range, with a global bond fund designed as a ‘building block’ for Australian advisers.
A failure to maintain operations and governance models could prove problematic for private managers in the future as their funds grow in popularity with a retail and wholesale audience.
