BankWest sets Precedent with Plan B
Western Australian banking group BankWest and financial planning group Prece-dent have entered into a joint venture to produce Plan B Financial Services.
Western Australian banking group BankWest and financial planning group Prece-dent have entered into a joint venture to produce Plan B Financial Services.
The new group will operate through the BankWest network aiming for exposure to the full range of the market with an estimated potential exposure to 600,000 cus-tomers and 30,000 businesses.
The move will also see other familiar names in the state such as TrustWest, Ter-race Counsellors and Precedent itself phased out as they are brought under one banner.
Precedent kicked off its own operations in 1986 and the move towards consolida-tion began with the purchase of KPMG's WA financial planning operations last year.
Since then funds under advice have reached more than $1 billion with Precedent chief executive officer Bryan Taylor saying the plan is to double or triple that fig-ure within the next few years.
"There is a sizeable opportunity here as BankWest has a significant market share, and there is no reason why this venture can't be as, or more effective than other banks," Taylor says.
BankWest managing director Terry Budge says BankWest had been supplying fi-nancial planning services since 1987. However the driver for the venture was a growing demand from consumers and the need to upgrade services beyond those which were basically an adjunct to its banking operations.
The deal will see BankWest provide the marketing and access to customers while Precedent will supply the financial planning process and expertise, according to Taylor.
As a result the only major change to Precedent will be the name, going with the less traditional Plan B title but still maintaining staff.
Management will remain the same of the new venture with Taylor and the former Precedent executive and administration arm wholly managing Plan B.
At the same time Precedent chairman Kevin Watson will maintain his position on the newly formed Plan B board, while regular staff numbers have tripled in the past six months as part of the lead up to the launch.
AUTHOR
Jason Spits
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