Mortgage Choice seeks to grow advice network

In the broking franchise group’s annual general meeting yesterday, chief executive Susan Mitchell noted the “immense disruption” across the financial planning industry following the banking royal commission, including divestment of dealer groups and restructuring of wealth divisions across the banks and AMP.

“This gives rise to an important opportunity for our financial planning business, which remains a significant element of our future strategy,” Ms Mitchell said.

“Due to the nature of our planning model, many of the royal commission recommendations do not affect us given out post-FOFA (Future of Financial Advice) fee-for-service model, which is not reliant on grandfathered commissions.”

The financial planning business is not vertically integrated and a new remuneration model has been implemented in FY19, she added.

Mortgage Choice recently published its results for FY19, which revealed the financial planning division’s funds under advice rose 30 per cent from FY18, from $733.5 million to $952.2 million. Premiums in force (PIF) rose 7 per cent to just under $30 million.

The broker said restructuring of wealth businesses across various financial institutions in Australia provided Mortgage Choice Financial Planning with the opportunity to attract more advisers to its network in the next financial year.

The broker said it offers opportunities for advisers leaving institutions to start up their own advice business with the support of a franchise model.  

The flux in the sector is occurring at a time when a new series of regulatory reforms are being implemented including new education and professional standards set by the federal government’s Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA).

Ms Mitchell said Mortgage Choice’s financial planning division invested heavily in the implementation of a new IT platform with XPLAN in FY19, with the aim of reducing costs for advisers.

[Related: Mortgage Choice reports 29% fall in commissions revenue]