Godfrey Pembroke advisers seeking clarity around the dealer group’s future would have been disappointed by the guidance at their annual conference.
The leadership team of MLC – the soon-to-be-spun off wealth and asset management businesses owned by National Australia Bank – is now in place for the arrival next week of incoming chief executive Geoff Lloyd, but uncertainty continues to grow around the future of GP – its premier advice brand.
This uncertainty was compounded last week at GP’s annual national conference on the Gold Coast, where advisers seeking clarity around the dealer group’s future would have been disappointed when NAB’s bank executives failed to address the next steps in GP’s move to become an independent licensee.
Following the news in April that GP would be separated from the bank, NAB announced in May a broader restructure of the business, in which NAB’s financial planning and private client business, JB Were, would remain with the bank. The announcement stated that the group‘s dealer brands, including MLC Financial Planning, Apogee, Garvan and Meritum, in addition to the asset management and platform business, would be spun off and separately listed.
NAB subsequently announced Lloyd would be appointed chief executive of the separately listed entity, a role he is scheduled to take up on Monday.
MLC’s leadership team includes Ross Barnwell, NAB general manager of advice, and Tim Steele, general manager of NAB Financial Planning. NAB’s general manager, advice partnerships, consumer banking and wealth, Michael Downey, will continue to report to Ross Barnwell.
In all, there are about 1511 advisers within the NAB and MLC network, the latest licensee survey published by Professional Planner shows. Godfrey Pembroke accounts for about 138 of these, the survey indicates.
Light on detail
One adviser who attended the Gold Coast conference with around 100 Godfrey Pembroke representatives from around the country described the strategy update the wealth executives delivered as vague and light on forward-looking detail. The adviser declined to be identified due to a non-disclosure agreement.
“More time was spent pointing the advisers to other dealer group brands and self-licensing options than was spent discussing the future of the GP brand,” the adviser said.
It is understood NAB is working closely with the Godfrey Pembroke adviser representative network to develop a solution for the future of the brand.
Godfrey Pembroke was established in 1995, following the merger of two large Australian financial planning groups, Godfrey Weston and Pembroke Financial Planners. GP joined wealth management business MLC in 1999, which was bought by National Australia Bank in mid-2000.
The GP annual conference came at an awkward time for NAB, right before MLC’s incoming chief executive was due to start.
“There is a bit of a holding-pattern effect at the moment, while the network waits for the new CEO to come onboard,” one observer noted.
It is understood meeting advisers within the MLC network around the country will be one of Lloyd’s top priorities when he comes onboard.
The uncertainty regarding GP’s future is heightened by the uncertainty in the advice and wealth management industry more broadly, as stakeholders anticipate the interim report from the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, due at the end of September. The future of vertical integration and the prospect of an individual licensing regime are high on the commission’s agenda.
