Dealer group Charter Financial Planning has secured formal relationships with accountants in order to generate more cross-referral opportunities.
More than 40 Charter member firms have formed alliances with accountants after the formation of a business partnership program in October last year.
The program, which was developed to lift the revenue of Charter member firms, had resulted in a 46 per cent increase in leads from accounting partners to financial planners, many of whom had already established some form of relationship prior to the program being developed, Charter and Axa Financial Planning national manager Paul Williams said.
“The aim was to encourage more formal business partnerships and joint ventures through a form of shareholding, which didn’t necessarily need to happen on day one, as a means of increasing business opportunities for our planners and their business partners as well,” Williams said.
As part of the program, technological capabilities coupled with Roy Morgan research functions link financial planners with the client databases of accountants in order to assist them in locating clients which require advice.
More analysis can then be done to determine the types of investments a client may favour and the investment structures they may require, for example whether they would benefit more from a transition-to-retirement strategy or the establishment of a self-managed superannuation fund.
“It’s also possible to see how many years it has been since the client’s last transaction, details around their funds under management and revenue, and the products they’ve already taken up,” Williams said.
“The program is a good differentiator for Charter and makes the dealer group a good consideration for accountants also looking to establish relationships with financial planners.”
The technology would also work in terms of partnerships with other finance specialists such as mortgage brokers, which Charter was currently trialling, he said.
