Westpac/BT outlines new structure while Count counters
At the same time as Westpac/BT has outlined the structure of its new BT Select financial planning offering, Count Financial has moved to target what it believes is unrest among existing Westpac/BT Securitor advisors by offering them the opportunity to switch dealer groups.
The move by Count came as BT Select managing director and former DKN chief Phil Butterworth outlined the strategy behind BT Select, which involves growing "a community of like-minded professional practices as part of the aggressive growth of BT Financial Group's multi-branded advice business".
Butterworth was at pains to stress that BT Select would not be a dealer group, but rather a service provider with a suite of offerings entailing planners having a choice of licensing arrangements, as well as access to a suite of services including practice management solutions.
Butterworth acknowledged that, as part of the BT Select recruitment process, transition payments would be made, but he denied the payments already made to some Count advisers were of the scale published in the media.
However Money Management has obtained a letter from Count Financial chief executive David Lane directly targeting Securitor advisers and pointing out the scale of "transition payments" paid to former Count advisers to join both Securitor and Magnitude.
The letter refers to "significant sign-on payments in excess of $500,000" and says "we believe that such payments, if they are not accompanied by similar payments to existing advisers, fail to sufficiently recognise the loyalty and growth potential of existing adviser firms".
In the letter, Lane claims that if the payments made to the former Count advisers are "not accompanied by similar payments to existing advisers" then they "fail to sufficiently recognise the loyalty and growth potential of existing adviser firms".
The letter then goes on to say, "if you feel your contribution to your Licensee has not been recognised or rewarded, I would urge you to consider what action you should take", adding that Lane would "love to have a chat with you on how Count can help grow your business".
Asked to comment on the letter, Lane confirmed its existence and said it reflected a number of calls from existing Securitor planners received by Count.
"Those planners have seen the reports of the sums paid to Count and they have indicated they are concerned they've been left out," he said.
"We believe what has happened has created a set of 'haves' and 'have nots' and what we are offering is to treat these planners with equality," Lane said.
He told Money Management that while Count would be paying "transition fees" to any planners who chose to join the dealer group, those fees would directly reflect the actual costs of the transition.
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