Fiducian poaches departing Stockford advisers

Troubledaccounting and financial planning consolidator Stockford has lost three of its Canberra based advisers to rivalFiducian Financial Services.

The three advisers — Peter Leeson, Ian Hoskin and Cameron Darrow — set up an office in Canberra under a Fiducian proper authority earlier this month after resigning from Stockford in October.

Fiducian has also signed up a fourth ex-Stockford adviser, Sydney based Helen Shaw.

Fiducian managing director Indy Singh says the signings are part of the group’s ongoing growth strategy, which have seen it launch its own financial planning software and administration system this year.

However, the departures will be another blow to Stockford, which is languishing under a poorly performing share price and continuing upheaval at board level.

Over the past three months, Stockford’s former chief executive and managing director John Malouf, former chairman Brian Clayton, and former directors Richard Cawsey, Merran Kelsall and Lawrie Robertson have all left the group’s board.

The group’s acting chief executive, Adam Cowell, has also confirmed that a total of up to 12 advisers have left the group in recent times.

The group is also currently embroiled in a series of legal wranglings with departing advisers over ownership of clients. Earlier this month, Stockford took out a Supreme Court action in Queensland against one of its former advisers, Walter Lovett, alleging he had broken his contractual obligations by attempting to leave the group with clients in hand.

Under a settlement reached by the court, Lovett was ordered to pay Stockford the fees he received from the clients.

Cowell says Stockford is currently involved in a number of similar actions involving Victorian based advisers. However, he says Stockford was not expecting to encounter similar issues with the three departing Canberra advisers.

Leeson, who was understood to be one of Stockford’s better performing advisers, says he, along with Hoskin and Darrow, saw a stronger future for themselves at Fiducian.

Leeson has a long association with Fiducian, using the group’s master trust before he sold his business to Stockford in 2000. He has also been a director on the Fiducian board since 1998.