The new managing director of Wilson HTM is optimistic about the firm’s future, with recruitment and operational reviews planned across the listed financial services group’s wealth divisions.
Andrew Coppin, the firm’s head of private wealth management, was named the company’s new managing director yesterday following news incumbent leader Steven Wilson will retire on 27 October.
“We’ve got the capacity to hire more wealth management advisers, stockbrokers and financial planners. Obviously if we do, it’s counterbalanced by the right-size research team and corporate team and we can [thus] further consolidate our position as one of the leaders in our field in Australia,” Coppin, who assumes the leadership later this month, told InvestorDaily.
“We, like all firms, are going through different times. We need to simplify and make sure that all areas of our business are capable of sustainable profits in the current environment.
“We need to support our people well in their endeavours to grow their business in challenging times, so I really see it is as a reinvestment and further investment in our people and letting them do what they do best.”
Coppin admitted the “road ahead” would not be without challenges, however, the firm was in good company.
“I think our business is one and I think our industry is one of dynamic change and that change is accelerating all of the time,” he said.
“As the head of private wealth, as I am today, or as the managing director, you’re in an industry where your business components are continually under review and you need to forever be looking forward and accessing what changes lie ahead and how you need to adapt in order to adapt to those changes.”
Coppin, who joined the firm in February, would not be drawn on the specific areas of business under review nor would he comment on the firm’s decision on Next Financial.
“We are reviewing our business; it’s a continual process for us,” he said.
In terms of industry reforms, he said the company had actively reviewed its requirements under the Future of Financial Advice.
In a statement to the market earlier this year, Wilson’s board and management said the company’s push to change its subsidiary, Next Financial, to a structured product approach would lead to a full-year loss in the range of $7.5 million to $8 million.
