Shepherd joins Challenger’s flock

Former Dicksons client adviser Mike Shepherd has joined financial services groupChallenger Internationalas non-executive chairman of its new retail broking arm, Challenger First Pacific.

Shepherd, a veteran of the industry with more than 30 years broking experience under his belt and executive positions with theAustralian Stock Exchange(ASX) and the Securities Institute of Australia, joins Challenger group managing director Bill Ireland and directors Rodger Bacon, John Barry and Alastair Davidson to form the new board.

An additional four representatives from Challenger First Pacific will also join the board. These include managing director Bryan Madden, John Buckley (Sydney), Mark Mitchelmore (Melbourne) and Andrew Robertson (Brisbane).

It is understood that in line with the formation of the new board, Challenger First Pacific will introduce a new type of revenue-sharing model which gives advisers a greater percentage of revenue written. In return for the new model, the advisers will pay Challenger a flat yearly alliance fee, as well as covering transaction costs.

Commenting on the group’s business model, Shepherd says he believes it will allow more flexibility in remuneration which will advantage both the adviser and client.

The Challenger First Pacific business was acquired from Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) last month and will retain all of the original CSFB Australia Equities Private’s 200-plus staff, which includes more than 100 advisers.

Challenger International currently has in excess of $8 billion of assets under management and over 100,000 investors in products offered by members of the Challenger Group in Australia, New Zealand and the UK.