Professional continues acquisitions
Professional Investment Services (PIS) has continued its meteoric rise in financial planning circles with the acquisition of Australia’s biggest life brokerage IFMA
Professional Investment Services (PIS) has continued its meteoric rise in financial planning circles with the acquisition of Australia’s biggest life brokerage IFMA.
PIS will add about 400 advisers to its existing base of 239 financial planners through the deal with Norwich Union, the previous owners of the business. An-other 30 advisers will join PIS after Norwich Union also agreed to offload its fi-nancial planning subsidiary Blueprint Portfolio Services.
While the terms of the deal remain under wraps, at least part of the takeover will take the form of a minority interest in PIS. Norwich will gain a minority interest in the group but will not have presence on the board.
Both IFMA and Blueprint will remain as separate entities in the PIS structure. Senior management at IFMA will remain unchanged with Paul Serong staying on as executive chairman. Negotiations for the sale of the group began late last year.
PIS gains a life insurance brokers licence out of the deal. Many IFMA advisers currently use the IFMA agency or broking structure for life insurance advising and use other dealer groups for investment advice. PIS hopes to attract a number of these advisers to its investment advisory services, particularly given the changes mooted in CLERP 6 discussions papers. Under these changes, life insurance advis-ers will gradually move away from the multi-agency structure to become either proper authority holders or life insurance brokers.
PIS also hopes to bolster the profitability of IFMA in the coming years by assisting its advisers in growing their own businesses. One of the cornerstones of the success of PIS since it opened its doors in 1996 is its recruitment of accountants into the business and the subsequent growth of these businesses. It hopes to follow a simi-lar path with the IFMA advisers.
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