AFS forms mortgage alliance

Australian Financial Services (AFS) will look to a series of strategic alliances to boost referrals to its network of advisers after signing an initial deal with a national mortgage broking business.

The dealer group has formed a reciprocal referral arrangement with Smartline Home Loans, which will pass any of its clients who need financial planning advice to AFS.

AFS will in turn refer any of its clients wanting to source home loans to a Smartline broker.

The dealer group’s advisers will receive up to 35 per cent of the up-front fee of any Smartline mortgage products sold to a client they have referred.

AFS head of strategic alliances Robynne Jemmott, who signed the deal with Smartline late last year and is now in the process of implementing it through AFS’ 65 practices, said the deal created strong cross selling opportunities for advisers.

“The big picture plan for us right now is to sell our customers products and services that sit well with a financial planning transaction,” she said.

Jemmott said the deal with Smartline was only the first in a series of strategic alliances being formed by AFS to boost referrals to advisers. AFS is currently in negotiations with a general insurer and a health insurance group, she said.

“However, we are not trying to sell everything to out clients, it is just those services that are complimentary to financial planning,” Jemmott said.

Commenting on the alliance with AFS, Smartline managing director Chris Acret said: “The alliance enables us to both remain focused on our core businesses whilst better servicing clients’ needs and providing a significant new channel for both organisations to generate new business.”