BT Financial Group has remained coy over whether it will bid for listed dealer group Count Financial.
When asked whether the Westpac-owned firm would counter Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s (CBA) proposed $373 million price tag for the group, BT Financial Group superannuation and investment division adviser distribution general manager Chris Freeman said he could not comment.
“We can’t comment on that sort of information,” Freeman told InvestorDaily.
Industry speculation has suggested BT may enter the race to buy Count, particularly as it has most of the dealer group’s $6.22 billion in funds under advice on platforms.
Freeman said while Count was one of the group’s biggest customers and the businesses had a “long and deep relationship” spanning more than 25 years, the fact one of BT’s largest competitors was in talks to buy the group did occupy his thinking.
However, despite his concerns, he said he did not believe a transaction between Count and CBA or another non-Westpac-owned entity would result in significant outflows on platforms.
“I don’t think so, because we’ve got a market-leading product. We’ve got good relationships with all the advisers and that’s really important as well,” he said.
“The model that Count has got is franchise members and we’ve got a relationship with all of those and most of them use us as a preferred platform, so provided we keep investing in the platform, keep it market leading and we maintain our relationships, we don’t anticipate any major, large outflows.”
He said another reason the company was not overly concerned about changes to the relationship with Count was because of the Future of Financial Advice reforms around acting in the best interest of the clients.
“We think that plays our way as well. You can’t sort of be prescriptive as to what platforms or any products that can be used, it’s got to be in the best interests of the client and we think our product is one of the best out there,” he said.
