The specialist

At a time when some of these brokers are considering moving into financial planning, Kandu Finance Solutions director Jeana Scott has succeeded in going against the grain.

“The NCCP area is not a challenge for me because I’ve been doing letters of debt advice to my clients since 2006, having come from a financial planning background,” Ms Scott says.

“To me, it was just business as usual.”

The MFAA Finance Broker of the Year began her career in 1971, at Barclays Bank in the UK. After a period in the Channel Islands tax haven of Jersey, Ms Scott moved in 1992 to Dubai where she set up operational risk services for a major corporate bank.

In 2001, she moved to Australia, entering financial planning with AMP and completing a Diploma of Financial Services. Working on wealth creation strategies as a financial planner allowed her to progress to broking, and soon she was writing loans for AMP.

However, she was subsequently faced with a decision: stay as a financial planner or become a full-time broker. In 2006, she chose the second option and began working as an independent broker.

CHANGING LANES

“I actually moved out of financial planning to focus on broking because that’s my passion – sorting out finance for clients and giving them good quality, service and finance advice,” she says.

“I look at it very much from a financial planning and tax point of view, to make sure the structures are set up in line with my clients’ financial goals.”

Her approach allowed her to see opportunity in niche markets, while developing wealth creation strategies and working closely with financial planners and accountants became a speciality.

Since January 2010, Ms Scott has been the sole owner and operator of Kandu Finance Solutions. Choosing to specialise rather than diversify, Ms Scott concentrates on wealth creation strategies for her retail clients. More recently she has focused on cash flow and finance solutions for SMEs.

It was this role that led to a special interest in trade finance and import/export facilities.

“Being able to make use of my banking experience to negotiate with the relevant banks for whole trade finance packages has made operating in this area a lot easier,” Ms Scott says.

“You have to be able to talk the language, the foreign exchange facilities, the trade financing, the trade facilities and the documentation,” she says. “Understanding how that process works as well as making sure everything fits in with what the client is trying to achieve can be challenging.”

SUPPORT BRINGS RESULTS

To be a specialist in such complex markets frequently requires support.

Since November, Ms Scott has worked with a business coach to extend her reach towards cash gap/ debtor finance – funding SMEs that have a gap between paying for production or manufacturing costs and the receipt of invoice payments.

Her most profitable year has been 2009/2010, which included a $6 million deal courtesy of a management buyout of a commodity trading business. In addition to setting up management facilities, the deal involved preparing finance for trade export operations.

“I prefer working in niche markets,” Ms Scott says. “I don’t believe in stretching myself across the whole of the finance area.

“I know there is a belief out there that finance brokers need to diversify across the whole spectrum of lending. I’m not a believer in that. I like working in niche areas and becoming a specialist in those niche areas.”

As an MFAA state councillor for Queensland, Ms Scott is passionate about the broking industry and wants to be the state’s first choice for business and commercial finance.

Kandu Finance Solutions currently services about 250 clients, although Ms Scott admits she is not one for number crunching. “I don’t do the whole 10 clients a week sort of thing, but I’ve probably helped 400 to 500 clients in the last five years,” she says.

REFERRAL PARTNERSHIPS

Around 80 per cent of Ms Scott’s referrals come from strategic partners, an aspect of the business she aims to develop over coming months.

Currently, there are six primary referral companies working in the Kandu Finance network, with plans in place to add four more by the end of the year. Some of these companies also have multiple referrers.

However, Ms Scott understands the danger of having too many referral partners:

“Most of my referral partners are from the wealth creation side of the industry, specifically accountants and financial planners,” she says. “I’ve never had referral partnerships with real estate agents or anything like that – that’s never really been my market area.”

Because she plans client investments while keeping a close eye on the tax implications, Ms Scott often works with financial planners on the retail side of the business.

Working with strategic partners is a two-way street, she says: “Once I’ve built up a relationship with a financial adviser or accountant, I can easily establish myself from understanding their business.

“I can make them comfortable in knowing I will look after their clients, however complex their asset or finance structure.

“It’s not just about my business, it’s about their business,” she says. “It’s about their clients and how comfortable they will feel with me understanding their clients’ requirements, both from a tax and a financial planning point of view.”