Planners lose Financial Wisdom to join the Matrix

Two high profile former Prudential managers have established their own financial planning firm.

Two high profile former Prudential managers have established their own financial planning firm.

Allison Dummett, who worked in a variety of senior roles at Prudential, including general manager for NSW and director of Prudential Fund Managers, and Pieter Franzen, a former executive director for Australian operations for Prudential have set up Matrix Financial Group.

Dummett left the Colonial group in June this year to take up the managing director position with the newly formed group. Framzen, most recently chief executive of insurer MMI, is executive chairman.

It is understood that at least 12 Financial Wisdom planners have joined the fledg-ling group, which recently received its life broker licence and expects to gain its dealer licence by December. Among them are some of Financial Wisdom’s biggest writers, including Rob Pedersen, Gerry Power and Paul Joy.

So far, 28 planners have joined. However, Dummett says she is confident planner numbers will reach 39 by the end of this year. She calls this a “conservative fore-cast”.

“I’ve been really excited about the enthusiasm of this group,” she says.

Matrix Financial Group currently has $500 million under advice, including $40 million in in-force annual premiums for risk and superannuation.

Dummett says Matrix was established for planners targeting the high end of the market, what she calls the “working wealthy”. The $1 million in start up funding for Matrix was raised through an excluded offer to 20 planners. Dummett says the selection of planners who were issued a prospectus for Matrix was made on the ba-sis of income and funds under advice.

The group is 85 per cent owned by its planners, with the only non-planning share-holders being Dummett and Franzen. While not all planners with the group own an equity stake in the group, Dummett says this is encouraged.

“In the future we hope to attract advisers wanting an equity stake,” she says.

In targeting the higher end of the market, Dummett says Matrix will shape their fees accordingly.

“The pricing structure will set us apart. Our minimum yearly fee will ensure advis-ers won’t be subsidising low writers,” she says, adding that fees will slide in pro-portion to the volume of business written.

Matrix will offer its planners education, compliance, commission, administration and technical support. Dummett says the group is in the process of hiring a compli-ance and research manager.

She also says the group “have a lot of interest in servicing our own product lines”, though she says Matrix will not badge products.

“I see this as a cosmetic exercise,” Dummett says.