Paragem poaches Securitor practice
Ford + Scott Financial Planning has resigned from Westpac-owned Securitor and joined Paragem's Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL).
Co-founder of the Hobart-based practice Mark Ford said the move was about a cultural alignment of interests at licensing and advice level.
"We've enjoyed a long and successful relationship with Securitor but we felt we had outgrown the vertically integrated model," Ford said.
"The move to Paragem affords us the opportunity to further strengthen the critical advice components that we view as so important in regards to strategy implementation for our clients."
Ford + Scott Financial Planning was founded by Tasmanians Mark Ford and Tim Scott in 1987 and now has $120 million under advice across Australia.
Paragem now has 13 aligned practices looking after more than $1.5 billion under advice, which according to managing director Ian Knox gives the dealer group enough scale to reduce client costs.
"We are now of sufficient size to generate scale and some attention in the market such that the benefits of aggregation can be used to reduce client costs," Knox said.
Recommended for you
With regional and rural suburbs exhibiting high spare capacity to invest, Money Management speaks to three regional advisers on the opportunities beyond the major cities and the importance of a strong network.
Platform consolidation is expected to accelerate among financial advisers this year, as software company Finura pinpoints which two platforms are set to be the winners, thanks to this trend.
The software provider has made several appointments in its APAC wealth propositions team, with a focus on driving growth across digital advice, Xplan and strategic partnerships.
The platform has announced it plans to close its Xplore managed discretionary account service in 2026 which holds $2 billion in funds under administration.
