Count Financial adds Sydney advice practice
Count Financial has announced that Sydney-based advice practice Small & Gunn, founded by John Small and Cassandra Gunn, has joined the group.
The move was in line with Count’s growth strategy which continues to grow its advisers’ ranks, the firm said.
Small, whose business operated previously under IOOF-owned Executive Wealth Management’s license, said that changing licensees was a very stressful process for a small financial planning practice and his firm was looking to join the license with a similar business model and values, in particular with regards to running a transparent model free of institutional conflicts that Count offers.
“This resonated with our own values as a business, because we’ve always believed in delivering exceptional client outcomes rather than selling products,” he said.
“It was also very clear that there’s an incredibly experienced head office team that properly understands high quality financial advice and how to effectively navigate the challenges of changing regulation and market volatility.”
The appointment continued the CountPlus-owned licensee’s ambitious growth strategy as since January this year, Count had added 50 new advisers to its national network, the firm said.
In 2019, CountPlus acquired Commonwealth Bank’s Count Financial which according to Money Management’s TOP Financial Planning Groups’ ranking in 2019 had around 330 planners.
AUTHOR
Oksana Patron
Recommended for you
With Insignia Financial suffering a cyber attack on its Expand platform, this can potentially have a negative impact on the two private equity bids currently in play for the firm.
State Street Global Advisors has made an equity investment in Ethic, a platform helping financial advisers to produce bespoke portfolios, reflecting the greater client demand for customised portfolios.
WT Financial’s new entity with Merchant, Investco, has entered into a heads of agreement to merge three financial advice firms.
ASIC has released the results of its first adviser exam to be held in 2025, with 241 candidates attempting the test.
