Premium Wealth Management (Premium) has recruited Count Financial’s former national compliance manager, Shannon Durrant, as its new national compliance manager, the dealer group has said.
This follows Premium’s appointment of former Countplus chief executive, Jeremy Wardell, as the dealer group’s new chief executive earlier last month.
Wardell said Durrant had been in the industry for ten years and had also spent time as a financial planner and practice manager so had a greater understanding of the compliance challenges advisers faced.
He said the compliance role was formerly managed between directors of Premium, former group general manager Helen Bridgewood, who recently retired, and external resources.
“We’re very focused on compliance at Premium and want to make sure processes are robust and that we have a dedicated inhouse compliance professional going forward,” he said.
“Durrant was instrumental in assisting Count Financial in getting professional indemnity insurance and also played a role in getting the group a national credit license last year based on new legislation that was introduced.”
Wardell said that aside from running the day-to-day operations at Premium he would concentrate on growing the business in an environment where business models were changing amidst industry reforms.
“We cater to more mature and experienced advisory groups who don’t require hand-holding, and we believe our model will be very desirable for these types of firms, particularly post new legislation that is introduced as part of the Future of Financial Advice reforms,” he said.
Wardell was head of Countplus up until November 2010, when his contract ended. In this capacity, he was predominately focused on acquiring stakes in accountancy and financial planning practices that now make up the Countplus group.
