Integro Private Wealth has partnered with AMD Chartered Accountants to provide residents in regional Western Australia with greater access to financial advice. This will see AMD’s clients able to access advice from their regional Western Australian offices in Mandurah, Bunbury, Geraldton and Margaret River, and allow Integro’s clients to access accounting services from AMD.
As part of the partnership, Magda Betlem, director of AMD, has become an authorised adviser for Integro.
Demand for advice in regional areas is high, the firm said, on the back of rising land values and strong export and agricultural markets which is fuelling one of the largest intergenerational wealth transfers.
Managing partner of Integro, Justin Gilmour, said: “Through this partnership, AMD’s client base of over 3,000 people will have better access to advice in their local area, allowing them to seek a more diverse range of global investment opportunities, which are difficult to obtain through a local private practice.
“Regional families are on the cusp of the biggest wealth transfer we have ever seen, with many family businesses, farms and mining sites consolidating and being sold off on the back of these high land values and market strengths.”
AMD director, Shane Kaurin, added: “We have seen a significant increase in demand for financial advice from among our clients, particularly young people and those concerned by the impacts of government policy changes like tax concessions on super balances over $3 million.
“A key strength of this partnership is that it allows clients to access advice from a trusted adviser who is working within the community. Clients are continually telling us that they want someone locally who they know and trust to be advising on their wealth.”
Money Management previously explored how there is a “mind-blowing” client pipeline at regional advice firms in Victoria.
Wealth Architects managing director, Callum Mitchener, said the firm is opting to acquire country advice firms over CBD ones due to the strong client pipeline.
“Country people are looking for help. These firms have a massive pipeline of new clients. They have people knocking down their door; there’s a year’s worth of work out there for them. It really blew our minds.
“These people have farms, and they want their kids educated on finances and dealing with the money in anticipation of taking over the business. In other cases, they want to sell the farm and want advice on that, or they have already sold, in some cases for millions of dollars, and they don’t know what to do with that cash.”
