Reported byAAP on finance.ninemsn.com.au

The competition watchdog has approved Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s acquisition of Count Financial.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chairman Rod Sims said there was unlikely to be a substantial lessening of competition in any relevant market as a result of the proposed acquisition.

CBA offered $373 million for the financial planning accountants network in August, and views the acquisition as complementary to its Colonial First State advice businesses.

Mr Sims said the acquisition would increase CBA’s presence in the supply of financial planning services and mortgage referral services.

But the ACCC was satisfied the bank would continue to be constrained by a number of other significant financial planning dealer groups, mortgage broking firms and investment product providers, Mr Sims said.

RMG, which now has around $660 million in funds under advice, said the acquisition of Piersbridge would add more scale in risk insurance to the practice, although the insurance business of Piersbridge Consultants will continue to operate stand alone for two years.

As it stands now, the financial planning business of Piersbridge Consultants, Precise Financial Planning, has been incorporated into rmg financial services.

Piersbridge Consultants, a self licensed practice with five advisers and five staff, brings $230 million in funds under advice and $8 million in annual inforce insurance premiums.

Principal of rmg financial services, Patrick Canion, said the firm was focused on more acquisitions and bringing new features to the current market and clients.

“rmg financial services now has an enhanced insurance offer for our clients by leveraging the capabilities of Piersbridge,” said Canion.

Meanwhile Piersbridge said it was an ideal time for such a move as one of their three principals readies for retirement.

“When we decided to find a partner we wanted someone that shared our focus on quality client outcomes, had the scale to win into the future and who could tailor the succession solution to meet our unique needs. rmg financial services stood out as the right answer for our clients, staff and shareholders,” said Ivan Cohen, principal of Piersbridge Consultants.

RMG is majority owned by ipac securities.

By Elise Burgess for www.financialstandard.com.au

West Australian financial planning group rmg financial services has increased its funds under advice (FUA) to around $660 million following the purchase of financial advisory group Piersbridge Consultants.

The acquisition is the third for rmg in the past year and will provide the firm with greater scale in risk insurance.

Piersbridge Consultants, a self-licensed practice with five advisers and five staff, had $230 million in FUA and $8 million in annual in-force insurance premiums.

The firm’s financial planning business, Precise Financial Planning, has been incorporated into rmg.

The company’s insurance business, Piersbridge Consultants, will continue to operate as a stand-alone entity for the next two years.

All the advisers are now licensed by AMP-owned Charter Financial Planning.

The decision to sell to rmg came after Piersbridge Consultants discussed options for the succession plans of its principals.

Piersbridge Consultants principal Ivan Cohen said the 10-year age difference between the principals meant they needed a flexible succession solution, particularly as one principal was close to retirement and the other was not.

The principals also decided that being a medium-sized practice was going to become more difficult, Cohen said.

“When we decided to find a partner we wanted someone that shared our focus on quality client outcomes, had the scale to win into the future and who could tailor the succession solution to meet our unique needs. Rmg financial services stood out as the right answer for our clients, staff and shareholders,” he said.

Rmg principal Patrick Canion said rmg would continue to grow through acquisition.

Bendigo Wealth recently purchased Melbourne-based boutique planning practice AIM Financial Services, representing the first financial planning acquisition for Bendigo and Adelaide Bank’s wealth management arm.

AIM will immediately rebrand as Bendigo Financial Planning and will be integrated into Bendigo Wealth’s standard financial planning offering, Bendigo stated.

Bendigo Wealth’s head of wealth markets Alex Tullio said the acquisition was the first step towards increasing the ability of the bank’s fee-for-service financial planning division to better service its 1.4 million retail customers.

“We’re committed to delivering a meaningful wealth offering to our customers and the broader market, and the acquisition of our first financial planning business is an important component in achieving this objective,” she said.

AIM’s 1600 customers across two sites will be progressively introduced to the Bendigo style of banking, according to the firm’s principals Michael Duncan and Martin McGrath.

Financial planners must take advantage of social media to combat negative consumer perceptions about the industry and make Australians realise the value of advice, according to social marketing expert and managing director of SRS Coaching and Consulting Rachael Staggs.

Speaking to a packed audience at the Financial Planning Association conference, Staggs said not enough people value advice, trust advisers, or even understood what they do, and social media provided a big opportunity for advisers.

Using social media also improves relationship building with clients and other advisers, and could help advisers promote their services and new products.

Social media was also an inexpensive market research tool to learn more about clients and their needs, Staggs said.

Advisers could also connect with existing and potential referral partners through social media, she said.

General manager of Easywebtech Owen Cope said social sites such as LinkedIn could be used to create networks of clients who could converse with each other.

Creating a business page for a planning practice on Facebook could also let potential clients learn about that financial planner and give them an incentive to contact the planner, rather than the other way around.

That would make that consumer already predisposed to becoming a client without the financial planner needing to spend hours trying to draw them in, Cope said.

Advisers could also create question and answer sessions on LinkedIn to find out what issues clients are talking about and learn about their problems, he said.

The Financial Planning Association (FPA) has pointed to a future in which there are no Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) bannings of professional financial planners.

FPA chairman Matthew Rowe made the call when opening the FPA’s national conference in Brisbane.

He pointed to a professional environment in which financial planners exacted their own standards on their peers.

Rowe and FPA chief executive Mark Rantall both used the conference opening to restate their call for restricting the use of the term ‘financial planner’.

Rowe reinforced the message by saying not one of the financial planners banned by ASIC this year had been a member of the FPA.

Their calls around exclusive use of the term ‘financial planner’ came ahead of an address by Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten scheduled for this afternoon

Sequential this week announced that the AMP Financial Planners Association, Hillross Advisers Association and General Insurance Advisors Association (AFPA, HAA, GIAA), which represent over 950 practices, have enlisted its support to help their membership adapt.

According to Sequential chief executive Adrian Johnstone, the ongoing collaboration and preferential pricing agreement between Sequential and the AMP Financial Planners Associations would provide member practices a valuable support channel in what is a complex and ever-changing operating environment.

“Financial planners are busy providing a valuable service to their clients, [but] like plumbers with leaking taps they can neglect the health of their own practice,” he said. “Often they do not have the relevant experience to review their operations against the changing commercial landscape to identify risks and opportunities.”

THE retail funds management sector is up in arms about its liability under Future of Financial Advice reforms introduced to parliament yesterday.

Funds managers are upset about the extent of liability that may flow from the “best interests duty” introduced in FoFA II, as the latest tranche of laws is called.

They are also concerned about proposed laws on the provision of so-called scalable advice, about particular issues rather than comprehensive plans.

The retail industry’s umbrella organisation, the Financial Services Council, fears financial planners may find themselves broadly legally liable even if they have been asked only to provide advice on a narrow issue.

FSC chief executive John Brogden said last night the proposed “best interest duty is unworkable in practice and would give rise to significant unintended consequences if not amended”.

His organisation agreed planners should be obliged to act in the best interests of their clients, but the proposed laws would leave the industry uncertain and increase the cost of advice, he said.

“Our legal advice tells us this legislation would be very difficult to work with, from the point of view of understanding what it means and how it would apply in practice.

“To make matters worse, no reputable financial services provider will be able to offer scalable advice under this particular duty. This will be to the detriment of millions of Australians,” he said.

The explanatory memorandum says planners cannot be exempted from that best interests duty by seeking a formal agreement from the client that the advice was what the client requested.

However, it notes, scalable, rather than comprehensive, advice is to be encouraged. “As long as the provider acts reasonably in this process and bases the decision to narrow the subject matter of the advice on the interests of the client, the provider will not be in breach of their obligation to act in the client’s best interests.”

Industry Super Network chief executive David Whiteley said FoFA II was “a set of moderate, interdependent measures that have been developed through extensive consultation with industry”. As his organisation and the Financial Planning Association of Australia were in agreement on the best interests test, “it indicates the government has done a good job, basically”.

Yellow Brick Road Holdings has partnered with Coolabah Capital Investments to enter the funds management space, with plans to produce internally-manufactured alternative funds management solutions.

Through a shareholders’ agreement between the two firms, Yellow Brick Road and Coolabah Capital new established entity, YBR Funds Management (YBRFM), will provide fixed income and cash-like investment products for Yellow Brick Road customers.

Mark Bouris, Yellow Brick Road’s executive chairman, said the products will make funds management more accessible for more Australians across a greater range of economic diversity.

“With the launch of YBR Funds Management, our team is delivering a real alternative to the market across the entire wealth management spectrum,” he said.

The YBRFM products will include low-risk, high return, high liquidity, enhanced cash, variable and fixed income solutions to suit investors wanting for less volatile asset-classes to increase their savings.

The firm said the vertical integration through YBRFM will help Yellow Brick Road diversify its cash-flows and permit Yellow Brick Road to move up the product value-chain.

Chief executive of Yellow Brick Road, Matt Lawler, and head of product development, Scott Walters, will be directors YBRFM along with Coolabah Capital chairman, Darren Harvey, and financial economist, Christopher Joye.

By Kate Kachor for the www.investordaily.com

IOOF Holdings has made a number of changes to its sales and distribution division.

Financial services group IOOF Holdings has restructured its distribution team and created a number of new positions as part of a move to strengthen relationships with financial advisers and dealer groups nationwide. The decision to reshuffle roles follows the appointment of Geoff Kellett as IOOF head of sales in April.

Under the changes, former IOOF northern regional manager Leah Waldie has been hired to the newly-created role of national key account manager. In this role, Waldie will develop and maintain strong relationships with national dealer groups and adviser associations. IOOF has also created state manager roles in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia. Georgia Nides will assume the NSW manager role, with Julie Wise to look after Queensland.

Matt Kent will be responsible for Victoria, while Nathan Morgan will take on the manager role for Western Australia. Commenting on the changes, Kellett said: “The fact that we have been able to fill these roles internally demonstrates the strength and depth within the sales team at IOOF. “I have every confidence that we have the right team in place to drive IOOF’s strategy of developing holistic business partnerships with financial advisers. Being able to provide advisers with the benefits of a larger organisation while maintaining an independent mindset gives IOOF a truly unique value proposition.”