Fiducian confirms external adviser push

Fiducian Portfolio Serviceshas re-affirmed its intent of offering its funds and investment services to the external adviser market and has now received strong interest from planner groups in this area of the market.

Money Managementreported earlier this month that the group was close to striking a collection of deals to increase the scope of its franchise network, however Fiducian managing director, Indy Singh, reveals today that any external adviser deals will not be concluded before its funds are rated by research houseMorningstar.

Fiducian will also move to offer its information support systems to external advisers, allowing access the group’s ‘manage-the-manager’ funds, as well as pushing its “FSRA compliant” financial plan writing software.

“Now that we have built a system that allows our funds to be linked easily to other dealer groups’ platforms, we are ready to go from ‘pilot plant’ stage and offer our out-performing products nationally,” Singh says.

Singh says the performance of Fiducian’s funds over the past six years has validated its ‘manage-the-manager’ investment management approach.

Fiducian’s capital stable, balanced and growth funds have produced positive returns over the year ending June 2003, as well as over three, four, five and six years ending June 2003.

Fiducian, which has 50 franchised advisers including the financial planning dealer group,Bodinnars, bought in 2001, is also about to release a series of new practice management tools for all its advisers.

“The group is launching Fiducian Best Practice across its internal network, which is a practice management methodology that has been developed in-house,” Fiducian manager wealth management Paul Barrett says.

The tool consists of three areas: Profit, Professionalism and a combination of the two, Proud, with the whole initiative being driven by the group's national practice management head Marina Boetto.