The integration of the federal government’s financial services reforms and overall review of the Professional Investment Services (PIS) operations will be top of the list of priorities for the dealer group’s new chief, according to the group’s managing director.
On Friday, the firm announced the appointment of former Bartercard Australia chief executive David Johnstone as its new chief executive.
Professional Investment Holdings (PIH) managing director Grahame Evans said Johnstone would review the operations of the company’s dealer group and incorporate changes from the proposed government reforms.
“Primarily, he’s going to be reviewing the operations from the point of view of how we ensure we’ve got efficiencies in the business, and how we can enhance our value proposition to our advisers,” Evans said.
“[He will also be] looking at the integration of the potential proposed changes through Bowen and to a certain extent Henry as well, but mainly through Bowen. There is a whole range of issues that he will need to get his head around.”
Johnstone was selected out of a number of candidates for his experience in managing businesses from a holistic basis, Evans said.
“He has also had experience in dealing with regulators, particularly ASIC. We looked at a couple of people who have been in the industry for a while and the good thing about David is that he brings a fresh set of eyes to the equation,” he said.
“He doesn’t have the industry background and he’s got three very competent execs who work with him who have all extensive industry backgrounds.”
Former PIS chief Robbie Bennetts will remain within PIH, Evans said.
“The relationships he has with a lot of our advisers are extremely strong and so he will be still intimately involved with them, particularly on the relationship side,” Evans said.
“However, from the point of view of his focus in respect to the business, he will be also be spending a lot of time actually developing a lot of those new opportunities.”
Evans said Bennetts will now focus his attention on securing business opportunities for the group.
“He has been instrumental with a couple of our other staff in bedding down the CUA deal and this new cash proposition and there will be an extension of those into other banking products as we move forward,” Evans said.
