Fitzpatricks Group has emerged from the shadows following a period under the radar thanks to a restructuring by new chief executive Andrew Fairweather.
In his first major interview since taking the group CEO position in August 2024, Fairweather tells Professional Planner about the major changes he has implemented within licensee Fitzpatricks Private Wealth and its asset management arm Atrium.
The internal changes are all about “being smarter, more efficient, having a better value proposition [and] being laser-like with our focus”.
Fairweather explains the “very unique” main strategy the business has created over the last year is built upon 15 to 20 years of work.
“We spent a year creating a very novel national firm strategy, where the advisers are key stakeholders in all of the decisions that we make as a business,” Fairweather says.
“There’s not many advice groups that have a national firm charter, a set of values, agreed behaviours, the way we work, the way we serve our client group. We all work together, so we’ve got management and advisers working as one.”
The strategy of having multiple advisers work as one body is Fairweather’s “absolute goal”. The firm aims to develop the capability of its advisers so they can provide more complex services such as high net worth advice.
“We still do have some advisers that like to operate in the markets that suit them, but they do appreciate being part of a group that is very hands on,” Fairweather says.
“Ready to re-engage”
Fitzpatricks previously underwent major expansion after being founded in 1987 but has been relatively quiet over the past few years.
Fairweather says the firm is “ready to re-engage the market again” now they have established a working strategy and a better value proposition. The improved value proposition is particularly good for advisers who want to serve high-net-worth markets but don’t necessarily have the skill to do it alone.
“We develop the capability of advisers so that they can serve those segments, and they can do it with confidence, and they can generate much higher fees per client than the industry average,” Fairweather says.
“We’ve just stopped telling people about it. So, my job is to start telling people about it again.”
Fitzpatricks is jumping back onto the scene with a settled national strategy and plans to elevate the brand in the market again.
While Fairweather couldn’t reveal specific targets for the future, he says they are looking to boost the number of advisers, specifically “we’d love to add another five to 10 advisers to the network over the next one to two years”.
Atrium is Fitzpatricks’ in house asset management function that handles investment solutions and client portfolios.
Fairweather describes Atrium as having “a very unique risk targeted investment philosophy, which is very akin to how an endowment manager would manage capital”.
Atrium was also subject to major changes under Fairweather’s leadership. He says they have done “an incredible amount of restructuring work within Atrium so that we can improve the value proposition for investors”.
“We’ve closed a number of funds [and] we’re no longer managing Australian equities in house,” Fairweather says.
Atrium is also part of Fairweather’s growth strategy of finding new opportunities to create products and services for the investment client base.
“There’s a whole range of revenue opportunities for us to construct new services and products that suit the end target markets that we’re looking to serve.”
Faces from the past return
Fairweather reveals to Professional Planner that founder Scott Fitzpatricks has returned to the firm in a coaching role to assist advisers in more complex matters.
“Scott has come back into our business as a coach, to reinvigorate, to actually help our advisers serve the highest value markets in Australia, those old high-net-worths, $50 to $100 million clients that have extreme complexity,” Fairweather says.
Fairweather says he was and is still incredibly excited about the opportunity of growing Fitzpatricks and Atrium.
“Am I optimistic? You betcha, because we’ve got something that not no one else has got,” Fairweather says.
“There’s a lot of people with capital that can do M&A. There’s a lot of people with a dealer group that can provide a home. Who’s developing advisors so they can serve complex markets? That’s us.”
Unlike many other advice firms, Fitzpatricks isn’t relying on technology to drive growth and efficiency. The firm utilises online portals and videos to help educate advisers but is remaining conservative in its usage of new tech, including AI.
“We’re just starting to explore where AI will feature, where it makes sense to apply it and where it doesn’t, and we’re doing it carefully and in a considered fashion, but we’re certainly not rushing to be right at the bleeding edge,” Fairweather says.
Fairweather wants to learn from other firms what the best technology is before seeing what a good fit for the firm would be.
“We can let others [trial AI], and we can learn from them and then apply it as it makes sense.”
