Does wealth focus beat vertical integration?
IOOF's strong full-year result of a 42 per cent increase in statutory net profit after tax to $196.4 million may well be a reflection of its specialist focus on wealth management, according to managing director, Christopher Kelaher.
In an interview with Money Management following the release of the full-year results, Kelaher acknowledged that the company's narrower focus had undoubtedly help deliver it a solid result in what had proved to be testing times for other players in wealth management, including the major banks.
He also attributed much of IOOF cut through to the level of expertise resident within the business — something which had allowed it to pursue major restructures without having to resort to costly external consultants.
Much of IOOF's success was driven by the performance of its wealth and platforms businesses and Kelaher said he believed this momentum could be driven further, with the synergies derived from the consolidation of the Bridges TPS platform yet to be fully appreciated.
Importantly, the IOOF boss saw much of the company's success in terms of inflows as having been driven by the breadth of its adviser network and the distribution channels it delivered.
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