“We’ve capped the business model at 100 practices, [give or take] but by the end of December we will have 40 practices on board, with $3 billion on our core platform, which has been tremendous growth,” BT Select managing director Phil Butterworth told InvestorDaily.
“Our vision by the end of 2015 is to have 100 practices with about $7 billion. Our pipeline is solid in terms of firms that we want to talk to, or [those that] want to talk to us.”
The BTFG-branded service commenced in April and officially launched on 11 July, incorporating 10 practices from the BT Magnitude arm.
The practices BT Select has attracted are high quality, corporatised businesses as the group seeks to create a community which is “aspired to and highly respected in the marketplace”, Mr Butterworth said.
“We’ve got a philosophy in the group that everyone needs to want to learn off each other so that’s what we’re trying to embed – don’t think you’re that good that you can’t learn,” he said.
“We really want to make sure that the sorts of practices joining can create that framework of continual evolvement and pushing the barriers of your own growth and your practice’s ambition.”
In response to IFAs aligning themselves to institutions and claims that BT Select was buying practices, Mr Butterworth said practices that joined were seeing the BT brand as a plus, not a hindrance.
“BT Select’s value proposition to the market is focusing on the independent financial advisers (IFAs) and their practice growth by leveraging the scale and resources of the BT group,” he said.
“Quite frankly, I see the institutional beat up as the only piece of ammunition service providers who don’t have a robust, quality backing have as an argument to try to compete with us.
“The ‘i’ in IFA stays in IFA; they simply choose who they want as their provider of services to back their business.
“In making that evaluation, do they go to an under-resourced service provider in this market or do you go to someone that has the capability set and resources to assist? It’s pretty logical.”
Mr Butterworth said the main area where BT Select was helping its practices was around fee disclosure statements, which are due in July next year.
“We have absolute confidence that practices associated with us will be able to deliver that next year. It’s not a ‘nice to have’, it’s non-negotiable,” he said.
BT Select will roll out several master classes next year, covering topics nominated by practice principals.
Mr Butterworth was appointed to the role last November after leading DKN Financial Group as its chief executive.
