Melbourne-based private wealth management firm, Wealth Enhancers, is set to expand to Sydney as part of ambitious plans to establish a national footprint.
Ex-army officer, Wade Tink, who left an equities trader role with UBS last year to join the firm, will head a streamlined Sydney office.
The Synchron-aligned practice is expected to open its new office in early March and will hope to expand a client base that includes sports professionals and medical doctors.
Wealth Enhancers is one of about 200 practices licensed through Synchron and presently has 140 high net-worth clients. It expects to add a further 50 in Sydney over the first 12 months.
The company has carved a niche for itself by targeting doctors and professional sports people, thanks in part to the backgrounds of two of its principals.
While Finn Kelly, CEO of Wealth Enhancers, comes from a family of medical professionals, Andrew Swallow will be looking to balance his AFL career as captain of the North Melbourne Football Club with his “day job” as a relationship manager with Wealth Enhancers.
Kelly says the Sydney launch of the business forms part of a bigger strategy.
“Our longer term goal is to be recognised as Australia’s premier boutique private wealth-management firm, with a presence in all major cities in the country,” he said.
“We are currently recruiting specialist advisers and are looking for passionate, driven specialists who want to be a part of a growing, team-focused firm.”
Wealth Enhancers is benefiting from both job cuts in the financial services industry and a wave of new graduates as it hits the recruitment trail.
The boutique, which 12 months ago consisted of only Kelly, partner Sarah Riegelhuth and an administrative support person, now employs a team of 10.
Riegelhuth told PPO the expansion into the Sydney market was a natural progression and that back-office and compliance functions would remain in Melbourne.
“We have a great advantage in the current environment of being small and nimble on our feet,” she said, adding that the company was taking a long-term view and has no particular issue with the Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) reforms.
In September last year, Wealth Enhancers acquired Kingfisher Financial Services, with the former gaining 50 new clients and 45 self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs).
Former Kingfisher practice principle, David McKenzie, joined Wealth Enhancers as head of SMSFs.
Director of dealer group Synchron, Don Trapnell, said Wealth Enhancers is an outstanding example of the talent Synchron’s NextGen program has helped foster in its younger advisers.
“NextGen is a program we introduced to encourage younger advisers to join Synchron and to support their development via education, soft skills training, coaching, mentoring and leads generation,” he said.
“We are constantly investing in their development in order to improve the efficiencies of their practices and foster better outcomes for them and for their businesses.”
Finn Kelly, Sarah Riegelhuth and Wade Tink are all graduates of Synchron’s NextGen Progam.
Tink, who is currently Wealth Enhancer’s strategic financial adviser, said he is looking forward to heading up the Sydney office.
“The values, ideals and dreams of the firm are, I think, the way of the future,” he said.
