Hands-on approach as Meritum taps adviser pool

Personal contact and involvement is the key to the continuing growth of Meritum Financial Group.

Chief executive officer Brian Dau says the dealer group doesn’t have state managers; he and general manager Theo Christopoulos visit advisers regardless of where they are.

“We work hard to make the business more personal,” he says.

“When we have PD [professional development] days, we will fly people from other states to join in, so they don’t feel left out.”

Meritum has just celebrated its second birthday, and has grown steadily in adviser numbers.

Initially, the growth was fast, as the dealer group attracted many advisers from Financial Wisdom, where Dau and Christopoulos held senior management positions.

“We are still growing and have advisers in every state except Queensland,” Dau says.

“We have wanted to grow slowly to make sure people feel comfortable working with us and we have the services to support them.”

Meritum is just completing its new back-office offer, which will include services such as paraplanning.

“Now that we have the structure to support more advisers, we will start looking for people to join us, but the numbers won’t increase dramatically,” he says.

“We want steady increases with people who will fit in with our business.”

Dau says most new advisers come through referrals rather than active recruitment.

“If someone rings up saying they are looking to join a dealer group and what do we offer, we suggest they might be better finding someone else,” he says.

“We have told people who just sell tax-effective schemes they won’t fit into the Meritum culture, as we prefer people who use the same platforms and products we have on our lists.”

Dau says any future expansion will be carefully planned so the dealer group doesn’t lose that personal touch.

“What is attracting people is the fact they can ring Theo or myself to talk about something and not be passed off onto somebody else,” he says.

“We want to involve our people as much as possible in the business, and for them to share ideas with each other.”

— John Wilkinson