FSP brings its activities together

Geoff Rimmer

In the final move of its restructure, FSP Group has united all of its business arms under one banner in order to establish a more streamlined organisation and ensure all of its equity holders’ interests are better aligned.

The three main business activities of the operation — financial planning dealer group Financial Services Partners, wrap and master trust provider FSP Portfolio Services, and FSP Funds Management — will all now function under the FSP Group umbrella.

The new structure sees Robert Swil take on the role of director of platforms and products, and Geoff Rimmer become director of distribution and marketing for the group.

“Whatever equity or potential equity people had on other parts of the business has all been swapped and they are now sitting in FSP Group,” Rimmer said.

“We knew that we had to get all of the stake holders among the different entities that made up the FSP Group onto one line because alignment of interests was very important,” he explained.

Rimmer said the organisation saw Babcock & Brown’s decision to increase its shareholding in the group to 27 per cent in September 2005 as the catalyst to revisit the entire equity structure of the group.

But while Babcock & Brown’s expansion of its share in the financial services entity provided the impetus for the move, it did not play a larger part in the restructure than that of an interested equity holder.

Solidifying the financial viability of the group was one of the most important factors associated with the initiative, according to Rimmer.

“Step one was to rationalise and stabilise the financials of the group… We reinvest every cent we collect from the advisers into the value proposition but we also seek to operate at a break even level and that way whatever we can then make out of our platform and products becomes a very nice profit for the group.”

The new structure has now opened the way for new business opportunities for the group. As reported previously in Money Management, the organisation is already in the process of establishing the FSP Centre of Technical Excellence in its Melbourne offices.

Rimmer said the group was now looking to develop an increasing number of “fail safe” strategic partnerships with other businesses, as well as enhance its offering in regard to risk.