More choosing to follow Yellow Brick Road

While other financial services groups are considering their futures, Mark Bouris’ Yellow Brick Road (YBR) has outlined an ambitious growth strategy built around accounting and mortgage broking, with financial planning being kept at its core.

The rapid expansion of the YBR wealth management business is, according to Bouris, occurring at an average rate of one practice a week.

YBR currently has 27 branches located throughout Australia, as well as one in Singapore, with a view to having 50 established by the end of the year, and a total of 150 by the end of 2012.

Of those lining up to become branch owners, the majority are mortgage brokers (about 70 per cent) and accountants (about 30 per cent), along with the occasional financial planner.

“I think the mortgage people are starting to realise that come July this year, when the new legislation comes into place, they’re going to have to fall under someone’s licence,” Bouris said.

YBR operates under a hub-and-spoke business model, which allows the group to offer all services through each branch — including advice, insurance, accounting, taxation, mortgages, self-managed superannuation fund establishment and administration and estate planning.

The model enables individual branch owners to inwardly refer clients who need expert advice that they themselves cannot provide.

“We originate the client at the branch or through the Internet and service the client at the branch level, as well as referring more complex client needs to the hub,” Bouris said.

One of these more complex needs is financial planning, which is handled from the central office.

“Financial planning is located at the hub because it’s more complicated and there’s a whole heap of licensing requirements that need to be vetted,” he said.

According to Bouris, because of YBR’s inward referral system, anyone can become a branch owner, as long as they are capable of doing the work.

“They use our brand and therefore we do all of their compliance, training, recruiting and education. We even put them through accreditation. Essentially they are independent of us, operating under our brand, our licence and our compliance.”