The vertically integrated non-bank advice group has launched a new service aimed at helping boutique Australian financial services licensees (AFSLs) grow their businesses, deal with regulatory requirements and spend more time in front of their clients.
The new offering, Actuate Alliance Services, will be headed by former AMP director of corporate and IFA distribution, Dan Powell, who joined SFG last year.
Mr Powell said the new offer is aimed at single office AFSLs to provide a backbone of support in areas such as technical support, access to portfolio and platform solutions, dealing with Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) requirements such as opt-in and fee disclosure statements, business coaching, and sales and marketing.
There are some seeds of growth coming through at the boutique level, with lots of consolidation, as well as regulator intervention causing a decline at the multi-office level, Mr Powell said.
“We’ve seen that multi-office market decline in the number of authorised reps, however, at the other side we are seeing the growth of these small AFSLs, people saying ‘we’ve got a vision of where we want to take our business’,” he said.
“But they do need that support and that’s where we see ourselves working with them in that area.”
Many practices intend to deliver on their promises but don’t have the operational model to drive efficiency, or that model has been disrupted by FOFA, according to Mr Powell. “It’s about linking up the fact find to the letter of engagement, the [statement of advice] and the ongoing servicing model,” he said.
Traditionally, banks have been the major providers of these support services but SFG Australia managing director Tony Fenning said they are no longer the real leaders of the boutique space or the natural partners of small business.
“The big guys have an advantage now but they’re not a natural player; they think ‘big company’, not entrepreneurship,” he said.
“We’re constituents of this business, [we can] use the millions we've spent on our systems and processes, and use that scale and expertise and time in market to their advantage.”
