Dealer group Australian Unity Personal Financial Services (AUPFS) wants more advisers to join its network as it continues to receive increasing numbers of referrals from accountants.
“AUPFS has to date established about 64 relationships with accountants who refer their clients to the group’s financial advisers and mortgage brokers,” AUPFS general manager Steve Davis told InvestorDaily.
“We would like to grow that number of relationships to 130 by 30 June 2011, and to do that successfully we have identified that we will need more advisers within AUPFS to keep up with the number of referrals coming through.”
Davis said AUPFS currently had about 50 advisers and wanted to grow that to approximately 120 over the next four years.
He said AUPFS was focused on building relationships with accountants who were not associated with other licensees and that traction from the accountant market was so far very positive.
“We appeal to accountants for a number of reasons, including the fact Australian Unity is a mutual and not a listed company,” Davis said.
“In addition, we are fee for service, have a clean, 170-year-old brand, and we offer a very flexible model. We give accountants the choice of providing financial services in-house, under our licence or through a referral to an AUPFS specialist.
“It’s a flexible, full-service model that makes it easy for the accountant to retain their independence and identity.”
Davis said AUPFS was looking to attract advisers who were professional, experienced, client focused and looking for an opportunity to build a profitable practice.
