Mortgage Choice brokers hot for advisers

There is growing interest from existing Mortgage Choice franchise owners in diversifying their offering by expanding into financial advice, almost a year after the company announced its financial planning arm.

According to the general manager of Mortgage Choice Financial Planning, Tania Milnes, one in four existing franchise owners had signalled their intentions to start a financial planning franchise.

"In order to keep up with this demand, we need to recruit more advisers," Milnes said.

"In saying that, we have been very selective with our hiring so far to ensure that our advisers are of the highest quality and appreciate the unique Mortgage Choice Financial Planning customer offering."

She added that Mortgage Choice offered the support of a big licensee, flexibility of recommending "best of breed" products, as well as realistic pricing.

"We are not controlled by a financial institution so our advisers are not restricted to offering products from one supplier; they have a range of suppliers and products to choose from, based entirely on merit and client need," Ms Milnes explained.

Shortly after the company launched its financial planning arm almost a year ago, it introduced a so-called "pricing menu" for its advice services.

Milne said its mortgage brokers refer home loan customers to advisers, which gives them the opportunity to address the clients' longer-term wealth.