Former Godfrey Pembroke CEO to lead Vital Business Partners
Outgoing Godfrey Pembroke chief executive Mark Fisher will lead outsourced paraplanner specialist firm Vital Business Partners, having departed the licensee after it secured its adviser ownership and exit from Insignia Financial. Fisher tells Professional Planner the new role will put him at the forefront of helping advice practices drive efficiency.
Budget’s CGT changes will shift adviser approach to client portfolios
The government has confirmed highly anticipated changes to CGT and negative gearing concessions in Tuesday night’s budget. Advisers are already pondering how this will impact the investment strategies for their clients.
HUB24 moves ahead with acquiring trustee service
Platform provider HUB24 has decided to move ahead with acquiring HTFS Nominees, bringing the trustee service in-house as the government considers banning the trustee-for-hire model. The firm was owned by EQT Holdings, which also owns the troubled Equity Trustees which is being sued by ASIC over due diligence failures for onboarding the Shield and First Guardian master funds.
Mulino argues CGT changes end market distortions
Minister for Financial Services Daniel Mulino has defended sweeping changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax across all asset classes, contained in this week’s federal budget, arguing they will end market distortions that have persisted since the current arrangements were introduced more than 25 years ago.
‘One kitchen, two dining rooms’: How Evalesco and Principal Edge integrated post-merger
The merger between Evalesco and Principal Edge has seen the behind-the-scenes integration of two firms that have retained separate public-facing brands. But it’s meant that long-time Evalesco CEO Jeff Thurecht has stepped back from advice duties, shrinking his personal client base from 120 to zero, so he can focus on managing both businesses.
The unsupervised hire: Getting the best from agentic AI
Every adviser conference is talking about it and every vendor is selling it, and the opportunity for practices to use agentic AI is real, writes Michael Connory. But the questions you ask before you sign matter more than the vendor’s slide deck.
Why CGT changes won’t shift investor behaviour
The current debate about reducing the 50 per cent CGT discount assumes property investors are primarily motivated by tax savings. Financial adviser Sheshan Wickramage writes the assumption overlooks how real-world investment decisions are made, particularly among high-net-worth investors.
Insignia to delist with all hurdles for sale completed
Insignia Financial will delist from the ASX at the end of the month as the Federal Court has given approval for the acquisition of the ASX-listed wealth giant by CC Capital.
Testing the platform hype against the adviser’s reality
A properly implemented platform can significantly influence an adviser’s operational efficiency, profitability and the number of clients they can serve. A new study will test that claim by measuring advice practice metrics against platform relationships to show which tools work best for which business models.
ASIC gets MIS oversight funding in FY27 budget
Budget papers reveal ASIC will receive $17.8 million over the next four years to help monitor managed investment schemes in the aftermath of the Shield and First Guardian collapse. But the welcome additional funding comes as the financial services industry offers a largely negative response to the Labor government’s increase in capital gains tax.
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Shield, First Guardian collapse could drive YFYS changes
The $1 billion collapse of Shield and First Guardian could result in more externally managed products being included in the Your Future Your Super performance test, after Treasury released a consultation paper proposing sweeping changes to the framework.
Lessons from the middle: Leadership, resilience and the courage of conviction
The principles of high-performance leadership – whether in business or sport – remain remarkably consistent and include the ability to maintain clarity, integrity, and conviction under immense pressure. Former Australian test cricketer Usman Khawaja told the Top1000funds.com Fiduciary Investors Symposium that the only time you really lose is when you stop trying.
Reflecting on nearly half a century in financial advice
After an extensive 47-year career, Paul Harding-Davis says that while every decade has seen a significant step change that has felt like an “Armageddon” it has instead only seen the standard of the industry improve. Reflecting on his long career to Professional Planner, he is still evangelical about recruiting young people to advice.
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