Centrestone to establish broking firm

By Craig Phillips

TheCentrestone Wealth Advisorygroup is close to launching a stand-alone mortgage and loan broking business that will enhance its capabilities in terms of debt structuring of client portfolios.

The group is also aiming to initiate similar ventures later this year in the areas of general insurance and estate planning, according to Centrestone joint chief executive officer Michael Pillemer.

Pillemer says the move is largely due to the group’s understanding of ‘wealth advice’ in the context of meeting client needs.

“We’re a wealth advisory business and we see wealth advice as encompassing both sides of the balance sheet, which includes both financial planning and the liability sides of the balance sheet,” Pillemer says.

On the risk side, which Pillemer refers to as “management of contingent liability”, the group has experienced strong growth over the past 12 months, with life insurance funds under advice up 35 per cent to more than $1.3 billion on behalf of 2,000 risk clients.

Centrestone also has over $1 billion in funds under advice on behalf of 1,000 financial planning clients.

Back in October, the group bolstered its risk advice capabilities through the appointment of two specialist risk advisers.

“We’ll continue to build both our advisory and planning businesses through a process of very selective acquisition, and we’re looking to acquire four financial planning businesses and two risk adviser businesses a year,” Pillemer said at the time.