Macquarie Equities crowned dealer group of the year

Macquarie Equities has been crowned the 2009 Money Management/CoreData Dealer Group of the Year (non-bank), while Commonwealth Financial Planning (Commonwealth FP) has nabbed the prestigious award on the banking side.

The two dealer groups received the highest ratings across a number of measures, including a survey of adviser sentiment and factual data from Money Management’s annual Top 100 Dealer Groups report.

To determine the winners, independent researcher CoreData analysed the data of the Top 100 Dealer Groups — in particular funds under advice (FUA) and size — as well as the responses of 1,695 advisory practitioners rating their own and other dealer groups.

A major factor in the success of both Macquarie Equities and Commonwealth FP was that both internal and external views were heavily weighted in their favour. CoreData’s Craig Phillips said there were both interesting alignments and misalignments of adviser perception and reality this year.

“Some groups, for example Macquarie, Count and GWM Adviser Services, are ranked more or less the same from both an internal (reality) perspective and an external (perception) point of view, indicating a close alignment between how the market sees these groups and the respective advisers of those groups,” Phillips said.

“For others — Financial Wisdom, AXA, ABN Amro, AFS and Lonsdale, for example — the market has misconceptions of these businesses compared to the more positive outlook of the advisers working through these groups.”

Macquarie Equities this year combined its strategic financial planning, retail stockbroking and private banking businesses, catapulting it into second place from 25th last year.

“Our primary focus is, and always has been, client service and support,” said Peter Coleman, head of Macquarie Private Wealth, the financial planning component of Macquarie Equities.

“I believe it is this focus, along with the quality of our advisers and their ability to access the resources of the broader Macquarie Group, which sets us apart within the current marketplace.”

Commonwealth FP managing director Tim Gunning said the dealer group has been focusing on flexibility for their planners over the last year. In terms of business performance, he said like all groups, Commonwealth FP was affected, but it was not having any difficulty attracting new clients.

For full coverage see this week's edition of Money Management.