Planning for a multi-cultural market

While marketing towards particular ethnic communities in Australia is far from widespread among financial planning groups, there are those who do work in the market.

ANZ manager personal advisory services Dean Nalder says that catering for communities of different cultural backgrounds is something that is definitely evolving within the bank.

He says ANZ has approximately 15 to 20 planners within its network who service clients in specific ethnic communities or have bilingual capabilities and use them in planning.

At present the financial planning arm of ANZ services the Chinese market in Melbourne and NSW, as well as the Italian and Jewish community in Melbourne, among others.

Nalder says ANZ has been looking more at this area because it is focused on Australia's multicultural demographics and its present customer base.

In some cases ANZ has begun specifically recruiting planners with particular language skills who can service a particular community, recently hiring a Chinese-speaking financial planner in Melbourne to service the Chinese community there.

“To me if our customers feel more comfortable with people that have that skill set, we will provide it if we can,” Nalder says.

Nalder says Australia has large populations of varying cultures that tend to settle in specific areas, and because some of these people prefer to deal in their primary language there is an opportunity to grow in the market.

He says ANZ markets to different communities through its branch network, and encourages planners to get involved with bodies such as the Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

PSK Financial Services financial planner Ben Burgess says his business is involved to a large extent in both Italian and Greek communities, though this has happened organically rather than as the result of active targeting.

He says his Italian clients have been sourced because he has done much of his work in the inner-west of Sydney, where there is an Italian community.

Burgess says he has been successful in the Italian market because he is able to build a relationship with Italians by expressing empathy with their situation and background.

A visitor to Italy in the past, Burgess says that talking about their country, its history and culture helps build the relationship.

The financial planning practice also has three Greek-speaking financial planners, and Burgess says this has helped build its Greek client base.

Many of the business’ Greek clients have been sourced through a referral relationship with an accounting firm that has many Greek clients and a Greek principal.

The practice has also been involved with Greek radio in Sydney, putting together a financial segment that Burgess says has built awareness of the business.

Sole practitioner andAMPproper authority holder Bill Helidoniotis, who has built up some of his client base from the Greek community, has also used a stint on Greek radio to his advantage.

He says spending each week talking about a different financial topic on radio helped get his name into the market, though he has also done work with the Greek Orthodox Church, which has helped his reputation spread by word of mouth.

Helidoniotis says he believes the Greek target market, as well as other specific ethnic community markets, will not be viable in the future because they eventually blend into Australian culture.

He says there is evidence of this already, as he speaks Greek only with the older generation of Greek clients, with the younger generation all speaking English.

“I don’t think there will be a separate market for different cultures, as they are born here and educated here, they all go to school together. They will all be integrated into the community,” Helidoniotis says.

The Commonwealth Bank’s executive manager financial planning John Duncan says the bank does not specifically target ethnic communities, nor recruit and reposition financial planners as a result of their bilingual skills.

But Duncan says that if the bank is fortunate to pick up bilingual planners who can use these skills within different communities that is a bonus.

He says one of the main communities that the bank is involved in is the Chinese community within Sydney.

Strategic Consulting and Training managing director Jim Stackpool says that while he does not know about marketing to different cultural backgrounds, marketing to niche markets will definitely grow in the future.

He says planners are moving more heavily into niches, by doing things such as writing articles and becoming members of trade associations.

"The old days of being a general practitioner to everybody, especially in metropolitan Australia, are numbered," Stackpool says.