Fastest growing dealer groups: No adviser acquisitions but numbers still up at Westpac

In 1999,Westpac Financial Planning & Advice, which ranked fifth in theMoney ManagementFastest Growing Dealer Groups Survey, had 570 advisers.

In 2000, the group’s then head of distribution, Brett Himbury, indicated that his objective was to grow the business to 640 advisers over a period of a year. It took him two, but he exceeded his own expectations. In 2001, the group had 703 advisers and by the end of 2002, that number had grown to 721, an increase over four years of around 26 per cent.

Westpac approached the problem of growing its adviser base differently to the other banks. More frugal than the Commonwealth Bank, which shelled out big bucks to buyColonial, and the National that dug deep into the coffers forMLC, Westpac had difficulty finding a dealer group to purchase at the right price.

Early in 2002, the bank flirted with the idea of establishing an independent planning network of its own, registering the name Catalyst Financial Group and employing Sue Laing, who had spent a decade building life insurance and financial planning groupIFMA, to head up the group.

But the deal fell over in May 2002, following the bank’s purchase of Rothschild/Sagitta— a buy-up which was quickly followed by the bank’s purchase of BT. The move into funds management was designed to give the bank its much desired access to independent financial advisers.

Today, the bank’s distribution arm is currently in a state of flux, a result of the merging with the BT/Sagitta business.

Himbury recently left the bank and in his place Westpac has appointed Scott Walters in the newly redefined role of head of financial planning.

Walters is still so new to the role that he was unable to comment on future plans for the advice business. However, the scope of the role, previously confined to Westpac Financial Planning & Advice, has been broadened to bridge the gap between the Westpac advisory network and the BT wealth management business.