West Australian (WA) based financial planning group Plan B is set to launch a mortgage broking operation in April. 

The Australian Securities Exchange listed dealer group is in the process of licensing the operation to adhere to WA's mortgage broking regulations.
 
"WA arguably leads Australia in the regulation of mortgage brokers," Plan B managing director Denys Pearce said.

According to Pearce, Plan B sees mortgage broking as a complementary business to its existing wealth management services.

"It will be the adviser team that identifies the opportunity and that will then be pasted over to the mortgage broker who will see whether or not we can assist the client," he said.

"We have had many requests from clients who have asked for assistance in this regard, as they would like to have all their financial affairs conducted under the one hub."

The group is confident there is sufficient demand in the mortgage sector to make it a viable service.

"Our clients have been talking to their clients about this and there is already a significants amount of lending business that we could have looked at if we had been licensed already," he said.

"That suggests to us that the business volumes that we will be budgeting for do exist, but let me emphasis that this is not intended to become a significant profit centre.

"We do expect it to be profitable but it is more about rounding out the service we provide to our clients."

The adviser group is in the process of hiring the head of what will initially be a two person operation within the group.