Godfrey's online platy

Former Godfrey Pembroke chief executive John Godfrey is in high level discus-sions with media identity David Koch on the possibility of forming an alliance.

Former Godfrey Pembroke chief executive John Godfrey is in high level discus-sions with media identity David Koch on the possibility of forming an alliance.

Godfrey and former Godfrey Pembroke executive Ivan Barr are in talks with the Money Management founder with a view to providing support for what calls a “customer contact centre” to be linked to the MyMoney Web site. The discussions revolve around exploring the possibility of using Godfrey and Barr’s consultancy, FinPlan Global Solutions, to provide training and compliance for the call centre. FinPlan will also provide a list of financial planners for referrals from the call cen-tre.

Visitors to the MyMoney Web site can already transact on managed funds. Under the plan, those visitors requiring more information will be provided with a tele-phone number for a call centre. Call centre staff will be able to provide basic finan-cial information and general securities advice to callers, however, staff will refer callers to a financial planner if the advice they seek is more sophisticated.

FinPlan will draw up the list of financial advisers and provide the guidelines by which advisers are selected for the list. Under preliminary plans, the list will cover the major regional and metropolitan areas and will offer a choice of adviser in each region.

Godfrey says that if successful, the deal would be a watershed for the financial services industry.

“This is where the industry is headed where there are a number of distribution channels offering varying levels of advice,” he says.

MyMoney has already forged strong relationships with some of the biggest players in the Internet business, including America Online (where it is the second most popular Australian site), Yahoo and is in final talks with Channel 7 network.

Koch says that if exploratory talks with Godfrey are successful,

“Our research has told us that users of the site are sometimes looking for human contact before deciding on the purchase of a financial services product,” he says.

“At the moment we have a number of comparative data tools and articles to guide the investor to an appropriate service but do not provide the human contact. These talks are the first step in moving towards a full suite of advice options.”