Perpetual sheds staff from advisory arm

PERPETUAL Personal Financial Services, the wealth management division ofPerpetual Trustees, has retrenched 51 staff, including a small number of advisers, in what it says is an ongoing attempt to streamline and increase the efficiency of its business.

Up to four advisers from within the division will be retrenched, with a total of 70 positions being phased out, including the redundancies, some contract positions and some existing vacancies.

As well as the advisers, most of the staff being shed are administration and support staff for the wealth management division, the rest of the numbers made up of regional and some senior management staff.

Personal Financial Services group executive Rohan Mead says the redundancies are the result of a continued process of restructuring going on since a wealth management review undertaken by Perpetual Trustees two years ago.

Mead says the review, which resulted in the creation of Personal Financial Services, involved the combination of a number of businesses, some of which were acquired, that needed integration in areas including administration and operations.

Mead has not ruled out continued efforts at integration within the business.

“Organisational efficiency is a constant journey — it doesn’t stop on any one day or start on any one day. But at this stage, I can’t see there being any further streamlining,” Mead says.

The redundancies come after the announcement of the departure of Perpetual Trustees managing director Graham Bradley, who is leaving after eight years in the position.