Fintechs land industry stalwart for executive adviser role

Jason Nyilas, who has more than 35 years of experience across financial services, has been appointed executive adviser at both moneyGPS and HeirWealth.

Nyilas was most recently the Australian head of retirement and digital innovation at abrdn, where he focused on working with other industry organisations to provide a fresh and forward-thinking set of solutions across digital, member, adviser and investment funds.

He previously served as IBM’s global wealth management and pensions leader, where he worked extensively in the US and the UK, and a partner at EY in the financial services practices in Australia and overseas.

Posting on LinkedIn, Nyilas said that ending his time at abrdn after five years was both “sad and joyful”.

“A large part of my abrdn role was working in financial digital advice. Having had a chance to meet almost all the digital advice fintechs involved in Australia over the last five years, I have been able to gauge what start-ups will be successful now and in the post-QAR and RIC environments,” he said.

“As a result, I am now working with two start-ups in the fintech space.”

Commenting on Nyilas’ appointment at moneyGPS, George Haramis, the firm’s co-founder and chief executive, said he would bring a “wealth of experience and knowledge to moneyGPS”.

“Jason’s international experience will greatly assist moneyGPS in driving growth domestically and abroad. His extensive credentials will enable us to grow relationships with organisations across the superannuation and institutional space further,” Haramis said.

Nyilas noted that he was joining the digital advice provider at a time of “huge domestic and international growth”.

“Having worked in digital advice for the last five years and having the chance to see other digital advice solutions in Australia, moneyGPS has a unique offering to provide more Australians access to pre and post-retirement advice,” he said.

“I look forward to helping moneyGPS become a dominant digital advice provider in Australia as well as a robust global organisation.”

Nyilas added on LinkedIn: “HeirWealth is re-imagining the digital intergenerational wealth transfer space, solving the problem of tracking, organising and managing all asset types within one application, and greatly simplifying life for families, family offices, financial advisers, platforms, banks and accountants.

“I look forward to working with these two fintechs to increase our footprint in Australia and overseas.”

HeirWealth said it was “thrilled” with the appointment of Nyilas as executive adviser.

“With his expertise and experience, we’re gearing up for an incredible year ahead as we work together to revolutionise holistic net worth tracking across all asset types, legal entities and currencies,” it said on LinkedIn.

Speaking at the Adviser Innovation Summit last year, Nyilas flagged that the government not fully committing to the QAR changes was an impediment to digital advice.

He said the government’s adoption of only 14 out of the 22 recommendations made by the QAR was insufficient in terms of removing red tape.

“It doesn’t encourage [abrdn] to invest more money into Australia,” Nyilas said.

The specific recommendation he is eager to see implemented is the good advice duty by QAR review lead, Michelle Levy.

Nyilas said the industry will not witness a transformative shift without the adoption of the good advice duty – a duty which Michelle Levy said would be enshrined in the Corporations Act and would apply to all providers of personal advice to retail clients.

“Good advice is the foundation,” he said at the time.