International News - Evensky confronts challenges of independents

The US financial planning outfit owned by two keynote speakers at last year’s FPA con-ference, Harold Evensky and Deena Katz, has slated a nationwide expansion to confront the challenges facing independent planners.

The US financial planning outfit owned by two keynote speakers at last year’s FPA con-ference, Harold Evensky and Deena Katz, has slated a nationwide expansion to confront the challenges facing independent planners.

Evensky, Brown & Katz, which has US$360 million in funds under advice, says the new model is the answer to expected consolidation within the US industry.

According to US-based Financial Planning magazine, the new company will be called the Evensky Group and will partner local independent planners to provide customised finan-cial services.

Quest Group International’s former president and chief executive Richard DeWitt is set to take up the new president and chief executive role.

The Evensky Group says will be work with other offices established in US major mar-kets, who will provide services through a network of affiliate associations.

Evensky did not name any potential partners, however, the group says talks are in prog-ress. The group is currently in consolidation talks with seven planning firms around the US.

The new services the company plans to offer include: mortgage financing, car leasing, bill paying, college planning, trust and fiduciary investment services and an array of pre-mium personal services.

The new Evensky Group will include Evensky, Brown & Katz as a subsidiary, with part-ner Peter Brown.

The model calls for a minimum number of clients per office, and the company will put money into these regional offices, building up to 30 employees each. The total corporate staff could rise to 200 a substantial increase from Evensky, Brown’s current staff num-bers of 14. The company reportedly plans to raise $40 million to $50 million in private capital to carry out its plans.

AMP has began the expansion of its global asset management business in Europe with the confirmation of a partnership with Italy's Banca Popolare di Lodi (BPL), one of Europe’s largest financial services groups. AMP's UK-based investment management business Henderson Investors has completed a five-year US$86.4 million agreement to become a sub manager of BPL's international mutual fund portfolio. Under the agree-ment, Henderson will gain a 15 per cent shareholding in BPL's product holding company, Bipielle Participazioni. BPL's international mutual funds portfolio is worth about US$5.2 billion. Henderson's fund range will now be distributed through BPL's 600 branch net-work, and also through its 600 broker and adviser representatives.

UK-based life insurer Prudential is considering setting up an Asian copy of its Internet bank, Egg, in an attempt to take the lead in the e-commerce financial services industry. According to the Financial Times newspaper, Prudential has already begun drawing up plans for Asian Internet financial services, and copying Egg is a possible option.

Prudential says copying Egg will not conflict with Egg's independent shareholders fol-lowing the float currently being marketed. Prudential says a decision to produce an Asian Egg will not be instantaneous.

Amvescap has withdrawn its bid for UK fund manager Perpetual following a top-level strategic decision to promote the fortunes of Invesco, its own retail and institutional in-vestment brand. Amvescap says it was unprepared to match Perpetual's asking price, be-lieved to be above £45 per share. Perpetual’s adviser, Merrill Lynch says it is now seek-ing new bidders from continental Europe.

Norwich Union’s merger with CGU has been given the green light by shareholders, cre-ating one of the UK’s biggest companies. The new organisation, CGNU, has a market capitalisation of A$60 million.

In Australia CGU and Norwich Union will continue to operate in quite different markets, with CGU Australia being one of the country's leading general insurers. Norwich Union Australia, incorporating Norwich Union Life Australia, Portfolio Partners, Norwich Un-ion Navigator and Paladin Australia, will continue to play a role in the group's interna-tional life insurance and investment operations. Norwich Union in Australia says it is simply business as usual, the merger having no affect on the companies dealings with ad-visers.