Matt Lawler

Licensing and business services partner, Akumin, has welcomed boutique advisory firm, Aperio Financial Services, reflecting strong demand from advisers for support to deliver quality advice at scale and grow their businesses.

Matt Lawler, Chief Executive Officer of Akumin, said Aperio epitomised the type of business that Akumin wanted to partner with, citing a client-first commitment, sharp focus on business improvement and a strong team led by senior financial planner, Serhan Aslan, and practice manager, Jim Gulabovski.

“Jim and Serhan are passionate about guiding their clients through all of their life stages. They are looking to enhance their value proposition to clients and employees, and continue providing great advice to more people,” Lawler said.

“We are excited to partner with them to deliver strong client outcomes, drive efficiencies, and grow their business.”

Based in Melbourne, Aperio Financial Services has been advising families, business owners and young professionals for almost 40 years. The firm, which includes accounting firm, Tax Matters, and mortgage broking business, 123 Loans, employs three staff in its financial planning division and has ambitious plans to grow.

“Having a strong partner that can provide business solutions and help drive efficiencies is crucial for freeing us up to spend more time seeing and winning clients,” Aslan said.

“Akumin understands what we are trying to achieve and the challenges in our business, and they are supporting us to implement our strategy.”

Since its inception, Aperio has had various licensing arrangements, including being self-licensed for around 20 years and most recently being part of a boutique AFSL. Earlier in the year, it commenced an extensive review of the market, which involved five licensees, before selecting Akumin.

“For most of our time, we were self-licensed or part of a small group, and when we did belong to a large dealer group, it didn’t have all the support services we needed, so we did lot of things on our own and we didn’t know what we were missing out on,” Gulabovski says.

“With Akumin, we’re supported in every area, including recruitment, paraplanning, technology and marketing, and we couldn’t be happier.”

Akumin is a subsidiary of Entireti, which includes Fortnum Private Wealth, Personal Financial Services and Entireti Alliances.

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Matt Lawler

Business services partner, Akumin (formerly AMP Financial Services), has added Victorian financial advisory practice, Pinnova Partners, to its Charter Financial Planning network, signaling the group’s reinvigorated focus on recruitment and growth, following its recent acquisition by Entireti and rebrand.

Established in early 2025 by principal, James Clough, Pinnova Partners is based in Melbourne and specialises in strategic advice spanning superannuation, investments and retirement planning, Centrelink and personal life insurance.

Akumin Chief Executive Officer, Matt Lawler, said the addition of Pinnova Partners demonstrated the group’s ability to deliver flexible, customised solutions and assist entrepreneurial advisers to start their own business, backed by institutional grade systems, processes and support.

“Our size, scale and experience uniquely position us to partner with businesses of all sizes and support advisers at all stages of their career to achieve their ambitions,” he said.

“James is a highly-qualified adviser who is passionate about delivering quality advice and growing his business. He represents the next generation of advice professionals and business leaders coming through and we are excited to partner with him to build his business from the ground up.”

According to Clough, Akumin’s ability and willingness to support single adviser practices made it stand out.

“I wanted a partner who could provide a lot of support throughout the initial stages of our journey while also offering a very strong compliance framework,” he said.

“I’ve taken the plunge to start my own advice business, and I’m fortunate to have the backing of an established general insurance business that will provide a sound referral network, along with Akumin, which has demonstrated that they can deliver the services and support I need.”

Entireti Group Chief Executive Officer Neil Younger said one of the group’s goals was to support the profession to replenish and grow adviser numbers by training, mentoring and developing the next generation of advisers.

“There’s a lot of focus on the professional year, and across Entireti there is a significant number of PY advisers, but we should also be fostering entrepreneurism and helping advisers to start and build their businesses,” he said.

“As a leading service provider to advice businesses, Entireti is committed to playing a leadership role in this area. Educating and training the next generation of advisers is very much in the DNA of Entireti, and particularly Akumin, and we want to continue that.”

Prior to establishing Pinnova Partners, Clough was a financial adviser at accounting and financial planning firm, Mulcahy & Co.

He holds a Masters of Financial Analysis and International Business, and a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Commerce.

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