Disillusioned financial planners and unhappy bankers will drive the growth of listed financial services company, Yellow Brick Road, as it approaches the final stage of a three-year project to lay the foundation for the group’s future.
According to Matt Lawler, chief executive of Yellow Brick Road, the group is focused on expanding its distribution network by luring bankers, mortgage brokers and financial advisers out of the institutions, while boosting the productivity of its existing 150 branches.
“There are a lot of dissatisfied people working for banks and institutions who are tired of constant restructures and remuneration changes and who have a good knowledge of financial markets and consumers,” he said.
“Similarly there are people in the mortgage-broking fraternity who have been purely focused on mortgages but who want to expand into wealth management, and we want to work with these people and mentor them to become financial advisers.”
The group’s long-term goal is to double its number of branches to 300.
Lawler said Yellow Brick Road had spent the first two years of its three-year “build-phase” program developing a broad suite of mortgage, wealth and insurance products, and increasing consumer awareness of its brand.
Channel Nine’s Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice television shows, which featured Yellow Brick Road founder and chairman Mark Bouris as the host, played a key role in promoting the business to its target market of people between the ages of 30 and 50, while the May launch of the group’s low-cost superannuation product, RetireRight Super, was the final piece in its product line-up, he said.
“We’re turning our attention from promoting the brand to continuing to build our distribution network and ensuring our branches are productive,” Lawler said.
“We have network which is based on postcodes and we’re half-way along our journey with the capacity to support 300 branches.”
Part of that support includes business, practice management and advice coaches. Bouris is currently in negotiations with Channel Nine about participating in another season of Celebrity Apprentice.
