Adviser numbers grow at Fiducian
Financial planning group Fiducian has seen its adviser numbers rise by 27% in the first half of the financial year thanks to an acquisition and new office openings.
In the six months to 31 December, 2022, the firm said it had expanded its financial planning presence with four new offices open in South Australia and Northern Territory.
This had helped the number of advisers rising from 66 to 84, evenly divided between salaried and franchisees advisers.
It also acquired the financial planning business of People’s Choice Credit Union (PCCU) in February 2022 which had included 16 planners and over 3,500 clients. However, it noted transitioning clients had taken longer than expected and net revenue had been lower than expected due to market declines.
Five franchisees were being inducted or had begun operating under Fiducian in Western Australia, New South Wales and Northern Territory.
Funds under advice increased from $3.8 billion to $4.8 billion year-on-year which included $791 million from the acquisition of PCCU. Some $2.6 billion of funds under advice was from salaried advisers and $2.2 billion was from franchised ones.
Funds under management, advice and administration were $11.8 billion, up from $11.5 billion at the end of 2021.
Executive chairman, Indy Singh, said: “In spite of this difficult period of economic, financial market and geopolitical turmoil, our growth strategy has not faltered and our operations have expanded. We believe this to have come at a short-term cost, which should eventually reap benefits for shareholders once things settle down”.
The firm had also launched its new platform Auxilium to offer separately managed accounts to the adviser marketplace.
“From a standing start the funds under administration in our badged platforms from external IFAs is currently around $134 million and we have only just begun to build relationships with a growing number of small and medium sized financial adviser businesses for Auxilium.
“The board has positive expectations from this new initiative as it is not reliant on the existing Fiducian financial adviser network and like other leading platforms, it shall canvass the support of thousands of financial advisers in the external market.”
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