A new business has been set up to service the top end of the self-licensed advisory market.
The Principals’ Community headed up by Kon Costas has been formed as an independent and dedicated self-licensed offer with the objective of providing enhanced services and support to meet the demands of successful self- licensed businesses.
The newly formed community has evolved from the BT’s Practice Principals’ Community after BT and Costas decided to part ways in the new post Financial Services Royal Commission era where adviser independence has become a highly valued commodity.
The BT Community had 134 members (authorising over 1300 advisers with over $50 billion funds under advice) comprising many of the elite advisory businesses from across the country. Costas is confident that with his key team members joining him, and the overwhelming support from the current community for the independent model coupled with the continuity of the services and support will attract businesses to join The Principals’ Community.
Costas says: “I am thrilled by the opportunity to build on the existing foundations of the successful community and provide quality advice businesses the framework that facilitates the connectivity of business leaders to share insights, learning, challenges and opportunities. In addition, the community has a strong focus on the ongoing professional development of advisers where they gain fresh insights in advice strategies, and a better understanding of the practical application of the regulatory and legislative environment through our dedicated governance team.
“The need for quality financial advice has never been more pronounced at a time when markets are volatile and regulatory oversight has never been more demanding of advisers. The Principals’ Community sees its mission as helping its members in these difficult times.”
To align itself with the growth-orientated quality businesses that comprise its membership, The Principals’ Community has three core pillars to ensure a constant value proposition. They are:
- a community mindset allowing for likeminded self-licensed businesses to come together and benefit from peer-to-peer learning
- a highly experienced governance team providing commercial support in managing licences and adhering to best practice, development regulatory updates, and
- scalability and ability to leverage off selected third party service providers including advice technology, education and research to name a few,
“Following the Royal Commission, requirements from AFSL holders have become much tougher, resulting in licence holders increasingly engaging with their peers for support and business insights into how to scale their businesses.
Establishing a self-licensed model independent of an institution also removes conflicts of interest and risks surrounding breach reporting obligations and provides licence holders the services and support to evolve with the ever-changing landscape,” he says.
A BT spokesperson says: “We have decided to close our Practice Principals’ Community from 10 December 2021 to focus on our core platform’s capability, technical and strategy support through our technical team and a series of events and masterclasses planned throughout the year.
We wish Kon and his team all the very best with his new venture and look forward to engaging with The Principals’ Community.”