Following months of speculation since Mr Tucker and Mr Heath left the banking group – after having risen to become chief executives of MLC and JB Were respectively – the pair have officially launched Koda Capital, having eyed a “gap” in the financial planning licensee market.
Speaking to InvestorDaily yesterday, Mr Heath said the company will be unlike any other in the market and will be more akin to a professional services firm than a dealer group.
Koda will be targeting practices that specialise in servicing high net worth individuals and advisers joining the firm will all be equity partners with no authorised representative status available.
“This is the model employed by the large professional services firms and, quite frankly, is a model that will help us move towards being a profession,” Mr Heath said.
Koda advisers will meet the Corporations Act definition of an ‘independent financial services provider’ and will rebate risk commissions along with having open architecture APLs and no links to product providers.
In a statement issued yesterday announcing the launch, Mr Tucker said the launch of Koda Capital stems from a belief that the landscape of financial advice provision is shifting.
“As we considered the landscape of wealth advice, we saw a gap – that of an independent, high-quality firm, staffed by experienced professionals that serve clients in a manner completely free of the conflicts of interest which exist in many firms,” Mr Tucker said.
“We believe the wealth advice firm of the future is independent.”
The statement explains that the group will have no ties to product providers, though Mr Tucker is involved in the ASX-listed Westoz Investment Company.
Mr Heath said the while Mr Tucker does serve as chair of both companies, that there is no structural link between the two and that Koda will therefore remain independent.
