Adding up advisers or counting the cost?

Count Financial will kick off its annual conference in Brisbane today (Wednesday 14 March) with new owner Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) aware of the need to placate many of the dealer group’s 600 financial advisers.

These currently make up about a third of CBA’s national distribution but are believed to be divided over the August 2011 takeover: some are concerned about their loss of independence while others are interested in what sort of ongoing retention bonus CBA will bring to the table.

While CBA has repeatedly stated that it intends running Count on a standalone basis and committed itself to supporting the advisory firm’s open architecture financial platform, industry sources expect some very frank words at this week’s conference.

The importance on CBA winning over the doubters was highlighted last week when BT Financial Group recruited five of Count’s financial planning practices to the Group’s Magnitude license.

While Count has not made details of the three-day conference available to those outside its network of accountant-based financial advisers, one source told PPO that “big announcements” would be needed to appease those practice principals who may be considering other offers.

In announcing the defection of the five Count practices, BT Financial Group’s head of advice, Mark Spiers, made some telling points about the current state of the market.

“This market is dislocated and experiencing rapid change and the industry is crying out for leadership,” he said.

“We offer a strong advice proposition for aligned practices seeking a market-leading partner and are working hard and smart to ensure more Australians have access to high quality financial advice.”

Spiers recently announced that Phil Butterworth, who formed and led DKN Financial Group, would join BT Financial Group as managing director of Magnitude, along with former DKN colleagues Mario Modica, Kon Costas and Andrew Rutter.