IFA Securities merges with Millennium3

Sydney-based IFA Securities has merged with ING dealer group Milllennium3, after operating for 18 years as an independently owned dealer group.

The “vast majority” of IFA advisers joined Millennium3 on December 19 following the merger, the details of which are unknown, while “two groups” of advisers were scheduled to transition yesterday (January 12).

In a memo to stakeholders, of which Money Management has a copy, IFA general manager Ron Ogilvy said “one of the attractive features of this deal is that M3 operate pretty independently, while ultimately owned by ING”.

“M3 is still run/controlled by the original owners Darryl Foster and Barry Martin, and is very extensive and covers almost everything we had before plus quite a few extras.”

He added that the merger with M3 would result in “very few changes to our current arrangements” even though IFA will “no longer control our APL (Approved Product List)”.

Millennium3 was ranked by Money Management as Australia’s fifth largest dealer group in 2008, with 599 advisers, while IFA ranked 74 , with 35 advisers.

Ogilvy said he had “lost some enthusiasm for running the dealer group side of the business after 18 years of doing it on his own, and lacked the motivation to take on the new necessary challenges.

“It has become and continues to become much, much harder to operate an AFSL — with more rules, regulations, responsibilities, obligations, and costs.

“Further, as a medium-sized group, PI Insurance has become harder and certainly more expensive to obtain and retain and this is a critical factor for our business.”

Another key reason for the merger is that it has “become harder and more expensive to offer proper services to advisers”, Ogilvy said.

Finally, he said he had made a decision that he “would like to get more directly involved as a financial planner and will be moving towards that goal in 2009”.

“I will be still managing the wind down of IFA for the next six to 12 months at least,” he said.