Godfrey rounds up industry guns

High profile industry figure John Godfrey has assembled some of the best-known names in the financial services industry to form what he says is Australia’s first “co-ordinated wealth management” business.

Called the Lowell Flinders group, the new company combines three high profile financial planning groups with a specialist financial planning training group, an estate administration specialist, a trustee company and a European-style private bank.

Gwen Fletcher and John Green’s Fletcher Green financial planning business has joined the group, along with Melbourne-based Riverside Financial Planning.

Glebe Asset Management has signed heads of agreement with Lowell Flinders to acquire a 20 per cent stake in the group in return for its Glebe Financial Planning business and a significant capital injection. Final details of the deal are still being negotiated.

Fletcher and Green’s financial planning training colleges, Investment Training College (ITC) in Australia and Adviserlink in New Zealand, will form the foundation of the training arm of Lowell Flinders. Godfrey says the group is also in discussions with an overseas training group about developing the training arm further, but declined to name the group in question.

The three dealer groups will be integrated into the structure alongside the Flinders Trustee business set up by a number of South Australian-based trustee company executives two years ago. Just prior to the set up of the business, Flinders merged with Estate Administration Services which provides estate planning and administration services.

The final piece in the jigsaw puzzle is the private banking arm of Lowell Capital. The integration of the European-style private bank into Lowell Flinders follows the buy-out of the Lowell Asset Management by a management team headed up by Sandra Straughan. Lowell Capital will add significant expertise in accounting, tax, funds management and corporate services to the group.

Godfrey says the co-ordinated wealth management approach adopted by the group is part of his vision for the next step forward in financial planning.

“Rather than acting as a one-stop shop, financial planners will act as the primary contact with the client or the metaphoric bow of the ship,” he says.

“Behind the financial planner sits tax experts, estate planning experts and corporate services to provide the full gamut of financial services for the client.”

While Godfrey has been the driving force behind the development of Lowell Flinders, his role now is as non-executive chairman.

“My role is to leave the day-to-day running of the business to the management team,” he says.