Consulting firm rebrands with Certainty
Melbourne-based Crewe Consulting has launched an expansion program and re-branded the dealer group to Certainty Financial.
Chief executive officer Geoff Crewe says the move to change the company’s name was to create a brand that could be used outside Victoria.
“The re-branding is part of a rollout of strategic initiatives that started last year with the acquisition of Consolidated Planning,” he says.
“We wanted to create a brand that covered the four areas of our business which are corporate superannuation, financial planning, finance and risk management.”
Crewe says the company wanted to avoid a meaningless name and Certainty was the one that stood out when the final choice was presented by the consultants.
Certainty is poised to make a further acquisition of a planning firm, Crewe says. The deal was struck last week, but the legal paperwork still had to be sorted out.
The company has also announced it will be opening a Sydney office shortly and is looking for further expansion in the eastern seaboard.
“We would like to reach the $1 billion funds under advice within five years and that will involve us operating in both major eastern cities,” he says.
At present Crewe has ruled out opening offices in every state, despite 50 per cent of the members of the corporate superannuation schemes it handles being based outside Victoria.
“I don’t see a need to have presentation in every state as we presently manage these members’ needs from Melbourne,” he says.
Certainty is also expecting growth in its risk management and financial planning business in the next five years.
“As the baby boomers move from accumulation to draw-down, we expect our financial planners to cover this changing need of our clients,” he says.
The company, founded in 1980, has a workforce of 20 and more than $200 million of funds under advice.
Recommended for you
Large wealth management players are increasingly taking an opportunistic approach to their M&A deals rather than a strategic one, while a fear of missing out is driving smaller players to consider selling up.
More than $2 billion in investment activity was recorded for Australian fintech firms last year, according to KPMG, with the GDG/Lonsec acquisition proving to be a notable deal in the second half.
Praemium has stated it is seeking accretive acquisition opportunities in the area of non-custodial solutions where it believes it can further grow its dominant market share.
Iress chief executive Marcus Price has shared how he is seeing “massive tailwinds” in financial advice in Australia, with the firm turning its attention to digital advice following the completion of its transformation project.
