BT to start in-house financial planning arm

BTFundsManagement will introduce an internal financial advisory business to meet demand from its existing base of direct high-net-worth private clients.

BT head of product Jason Yetton has confirmed the group is preparing to apply for a licence under the Financial Services Reform Act to launch the new business.

“Direct clients are asking for advice so this is a natural extension, particularly in the private net worth division,” Yetton says.

He says BT’s direct clients make up 15 per cent of its total client numbers.

“A fraction of that will be looking for advice at any one time,” he says.

The in-house planning business will have an initial eight planners and two paraplanners to service BT’s direct clients not already in a financial planning relationship.

The eight advisers are expected to be a mix of existing BT staff and external people who will work out of BT’s investor centres. Three advisers will be based in Sydney, two in Melbourne and one each in Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

Yetton says BT will continue to remain focused on referring clients on to external advisers through its Adviser Referral Program, launched last October.

“The majority of our business is clients through intermediaries, and there will be no change for them, they will remain the client of that adviser,” Yetton says.

BT’s Private Client division, servicing those with more than $500,000, and its non-adviser distribution team, servicing clients with less than $500,000, have also merged as part of the new business.