Ms Cabrera was previously Senior Product Manager, Financial Planning at Morningstar and also spent four years at Centrepoint Alliance, most recently as Head of Advice Technology.  Ms Cabrera has also held roles at TAL Life and Iress.

Ms Cabrera will oversee financial planning technology solutions business Enzumo, which was acquired by Centrepoint Alliance in June 2020. Ms Cabrera will report to Kate Anderson, Executive, Advice Services and Solutions.

Commenting on the hire, Ms Anderson said: “We are delighted to welcome Farisha to Enzumo. Farisha has extensive experience in delivering market-leading advice technology, as well as leading teams that provide exceptional training and support for advisers.”

Ms Cabrera said: “Having acted ahead of COVID-19 to develop greater technology-based services, Centrepoint Alliance is leading Australia in its strategic approach to advice technology and I am very excited to be a part of this.”

Enzumo is the leading provider of financial planning software consulting, customisation and workflow solutions, and e-learning management solutions to the financial planning and advisory industry. Its clients include mid-tier wealth institutions, dealer groups and financial advisory practices.

“Enzumo has a very high-quality team and I am looking forward to working with them and helping to drive the continued expansion and success of the business,” Ms Cabrera said.

Ms Anderson said investment in technology remained a key strategic priority for Centrepoint Alliance.

“In addition to the Enzumo acquisition, we have made a number of significant investments in technology in recent years, including the introduction of Centrepoint Connect and the development of the Centrepoint Alliance Practice Dashboard,” she said.

“We remain committed to continuing to deliver cutting-edge technology solutions to both authorised representatives and self-licensed businesses and leveraging our scale advantage to further build on our capabilities.”

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Angus Benbow

Leading provider of advice and business services to financial advice firms, Centrepoint Alliance Limited (ASX: CAF), has announced strong growth during FY20 including an increase of 11% in gross revenue and a 61% increase in adviser fee revenue.

Announcing its full year results Centrepoint Alliance said while the operating environment had been unprecedented, conditions have provided significant business opportunities as the need for advice and the transformation of advice delivery gathered pace in the second half of the financial year.

Key FY20 highlights include:

• Gross revenue up by 11% to $131.0m, driven by strong growth in new advisers and significant increase in average gross revenue per advice firm.
• Adviser fees increased by 61% to $10m, with the average annual adviser fee growing by 84% to $36k, continuing the transition to a sustainable recurring fee model.
• Strong 2H20 result, with gross profit up $1.1m and management expenses down $2.0m on 1H20.
• Adviser recruitment running at record levels, onboarding 79 new advisers (up 16% from previous record growth in FY19).
• Licensed adviser base increased by 6% to 317 in a market that has contracted 13% in the past 12 months.
• Low churn, retaining 83% of advice firms under new FY20 pricing structure from 1 July 2019.
• Acquisition of leading advice technology firm, Enzumo, completed in June 2020 for $1.5m.

Mr Angus Benbow, Centrepoint Alliance CEO said the results affirmed the Strategic Refresh that Centrepoint Alliance had embarked upon in early FY19 to reposition for growth.  The strategy focuses on advice and business services, leveraged through new data and digital tools, and a new transparent pricing model.

“FY20 has been a busy and successful year for Centrepoint Alliance. The conditions of our operating environment have presented challenges which are significant, but I am pleased to report that these same conditions have provided opportunities for us to demonstrate value to our adviser community,” said Mr Benbow.

“We are particularly proud to have delivered recurring growth which has accelerated in H2 FY20, providing tailwind momentum heading into 2021.

“Through our strategic transformation we have developed an increasingly attractive suite of services, which has empowered us to attract new advisers to the Centrepoint Alliance community at a record rate, despite the financial advice market shrinking overall.

“A key priority has been to improve the quality and breadth of our technology offering and we took an important step forward in this regard with our acquisition in June 2020 of the Enzumo financial planning technology solutions business.”

Mr Alan Fisher, Centrepoint Alliance Chairman, said as the wealth management industry has undergone structural change, the strategic path that Centrepoint Alliance has chosen has placed the Company well to capitalise on disruption in the sector.

“The need for quality financial advice has never been more pressing, and we were pleased to recruit record numbers of new, quality financial advisers in FY20. Centrepoint Alliance is an increasingly attractive adviser destination with a growing reputation for integrity and leadership,” he said.

Looking ahead to FY21, Mr Benbow said Centrepoint Alliance was well positioned to take up opportunities, particularly as smaller licensees seek to adapt their business models following a once-in-a-generation industry transformation.

“Our areas of focus for the year ahead are to continue to attract high quality licensed and self-licensed firms to the Centrepoint Alliance community, enhance the value of our scalable service platform, and actively explore industry consolidation opportunities,” said Mr Benbow.

“We enter FY21 well-positioned to achieve these goals with a robust, cash-generative and scalable platform, backed by the balance sheet strength to grow quickly and opportunistically. In addition, our adviser community has confirmed to us they are extremely satisfied with Centrepoint Alliance and our ability to fully support them in the areas they value most.”

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Nicole Alexander

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) recently shared its strategic priorities for next year – and at the top are high deterrence enforcement actions.

ASIC has already announced plans to increase surveillance and enforcement activities and has commenced 77 investigations and completed 48 investigations between January and June 2019.

If you receive a notice from ASIC to provide information and fail to comply, the consequences may be severe, with penalties up to $18,000, or 2 years imprisonment, or both.

What can you do to ensure that you are informed and ready to respond?

1. Understand ASIC’s information-gathering powers

Firstly, it’s important that you know what may be asked of you. ASIC uses its information-gathering powers to monitor compliance with the law and take enforcement action where necessary. The most common power that ASIC will use is asking you to produce documents or provide information. For example, you may be required to produce client files, describe and provide information about your policies, procedures and compliance measures, or copies of documents and records.

If you receive a notice to provide documents or information, it does not necessarily mean you have breached the law or are suspected of committing an offence. ASIC also gathers information to help it to provide guidance and clarity on expected standards of behaviour.

2. Be prepared

Ensuring that you have adequate compliance arrangements in place is key to being prepared for responding to any request or notice. You should document:

• your policies, procedures and compliance measures
• how your procedures will be monitored and what reporting you will do
• how frequently procedures will be reviewed and who is responsible
• You could also look at the areas ASIC has identified in their Corporate Plan and review the adequacy of your compliance arrangements.

You should also consider:

• How quickly you could respond – do you have the resources and time?
• Can you access the information required such as access to files, current and historical documents, policies and procedures? Do you need to get information from others?

3. Don’t delay

It’s important to act promptly if you receive a notice to ensure you have enough time to understand exactly what is required and provide others enough time to assist if needed. It’s also important to completely disclose all relevant information.

What if you discover a breach while you are preparing a response? Take immediate action; a good breach report showing how you have addressed an issue will be viewed favourably by the regulator.

4. Ask for help

Lastly, if you are unsure about what is being asked for, or what your obligations are, ask for help. Talk to your compliance consultant or lawyer. And don’t be afraid to go back to ASIC and ask it to clarify its request. Knowing exactly what is required and by when will help you to respond to the request and minimise the stress and disruption to your business.

By Nicole Alexander, Head of Licensee Standard

———-

Sources:
Speech to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services, ASIC Chair, James Shipton, shared the strategic priorities for ASIC this year as outlined in the Corporate Plan 2019-23.
ASIC Enforcement Update – https://download.asic.gov.au/media/5236808/rep625-published-18-august-2019.pdf
ASIC address New Frontiers in Regulation – https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/news-centre/speeches/new-frontiers-in-regulation/
ASIC’s CEDA keynote address – https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/news-centre/speeches/ceda-keynote-address/ 

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Alan Fisher

Business services provider to financial advisers, Centrepoint Alliance Limited (ASX: CAF) (‘Centrepoint’, the ‘Company’ or the ‘Group’), has announced a turnaround in profit for the financial year ended 30 June 2019 (FY19), and a successful transition to a new revenue model.

The company reported a pre-tax profit of $1.2m (compared to FY18 $3.4m loss) and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $2.4m (compared to FY18 $1.6m loss).

Chief Executive Officer Angus Benbow said the FY19 results validated the new strategy announced in August 2018. “Last year, we embarked on a new strategy to focus on providing services to advisers, with the introduction of a new pricing model which repositions the business for growth. I’m very pleased to say these initiatives are showing strong signs of success.”

Centrepoint was one of the first in the market to move to a fee-based revenue model. “The financial advice sector’s business model need to change”, he said. “We are leading by example and we were one of the first scaled advice businesses to reset pricing.”

Mr Benbow said that 86% of firms in the Centrepoint authorised representative network had transitioned to the new pricing model. “Our revenue mix is moving to be predominantly sourced from service fees paid by advisers.”

FY19 Summary

• Profit before tax of $1.2m (FY18 $3.4m loss)
• EBITDA of $2.4m (FY18 $1.6m loss)
• Accelerated transition of revenue mix towards recurring fees
• 86% of adviser firms retained under new pricing model (195 of 227 firms)
• 80% increase in new onboarded advisers
• Chairman, Alan Fisher, said: “Centrepoint is well placed to take advantage of the disruption in the wealth management sector.

“Our business transformation is progressing well, and we remain focussed on assessing partnerships, acquisition opportunities and enhancing shareholder value.

“During the year, we have welcomed new advice businesses to the network and continue to see financial advisers proactively looking for a quality business services partner. In fact, we recruited a record number of new financial advisers in the fourth quarter of FY19. We continue to assess more firms, as they are increasingly attracted to our service offer.”

Mr Benbow said that there is ever more pressure on advisers and advice firms – costs are rising, regulatory requirements are increasing, and revised education standards are transforming the industry. “We know advisers are feeling fatigued with the level of change,” he said.

“This is why we have implemented a model where both self-licensed and corporate licensed advisers can access a full suite of business services and support. With the quality and scale of our offer, we are well placed to support advisers as they adapt to this new landscape by providing the tools and services they need to succeed.”

Centrepoint offers a complete suite of governance, business management, client growth and advice services that enable advisers to spend more time providing advice to their clients.

Looking forward, Mr Benbow said that Centrepoint’s areas of focus for FY20 are to:

• Launch fee-based offer for self-licensed advisers
• Drive continued growth in licensed network
• Further invest in technology and data to enable greater scale and superior service to advice firms

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John de Zwart

Centrepoint Alliance Limited has announced an underlying net profit before tax of $3.2m for the first half ended 31 December 2015, up 16% on the prior period and down 26% on the prior corresponding period (pcp). The Group has a strong financial position with cash of $12m as at 31 December 2015.

The Chairman, Alan Fisher, commented, “We are pleased with the Group’s progress in executing on its strategy. The market environment in both business lines is challenging so it is particularly pleasing to see the transformation of the Wealth business gaining momentum and the Funding business growing its broker relationships and loans. In a market where competitors are reassessing their participation, Centrepoint is strengthening its position as the preferred choice for professional advisers and brokers.”

Centrepoint also announced an interim dividend of 1 cps fully franked to be paid on 29 April 2016.

The Wealth business delivered a solid result with an underlying pre-tax profit of $3.5m up 13% on the prior period. Our new competitive offering is performing well with growth in quality adviser recruitment, funds under management and administration, and adoption of new technology and services. The results were offset by investments being made in people, technology and new solutions, along with a reduction in practice fees following the move to a fixed fee model last year.

The Funding business’ underlying pre-tax profit was up 48% on the prior period. The Premium Funding business wrote a record 15,000 loans during the period. Premiums funded of $212m were flat on the pcp and up 26% on the prior period driven by 12% growth from the eastern states.

Managing Director, John de Zwart, said, “The momentum in the business is exciting as we continue to deliver on our strategy and provide leading solutions and support for professional independent advisers, brokers and their clients.

“The investments we have been making in our team and services will underpin growth in the coming periods. While the markets have been tough, the demand for quality professional advice by Australians has never been greater. We are very optimistic about the future for independent advisers.

“We are proving our ability to transform not just our own business but the businesses of our adviser partners in a rapidly changing market environment.”

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John de Zwart

Centrepoint Alliance Limited yesterday announced its half-yearly results to the ASX, reporting a statutory NPAT for the Group of $2.9m, up 126% on the prior corresponding period.

The Chairman, Rick Nelson commented, “The Group has delivered a number of new and improved initiatives during the period which will allow the business to execute its strategy to be a market leader in the delivery of quality financial advice. Both the Centrepoint Funding and Wealth businesses hold strong positions in their respective markets and we will continue to build on those.”

John de Zwart, Managing Director of Centrepoint Alliance Limited said, “The strong growth recognises the investment the Group has made, and continues to make, in supporting non-aligned professional advisers and brokers to build their businesses.

“We’ve made significant inroads in the past half year. We have launched a new separately managed account service, the Premium Funding business has grown its east coast business by 24% and recently signed a distribution agreement with the Steadfast Group, and our adviser network is starting to see the benefits that a focus on delivering quality advice is bringing to their practices”.

Centrepoint Alliance Wealth, which consists of Associated Advisory Practices (‘AAP’), Alliance Wealth, Professional Investment Services (‘PIS’), Ventura Funds Management, and Investment Diversity, announced a solid underlying pre-tax profit of $4.0m, up 29%.

John de Zwart said, “During the half year we continued to execute our strategy to support advisers grow their business and improve the quality of advice and financial outcomes for Australians.

“Centrepoint continues to invest in people and technology. Advisers need support from a partner who can invest in the systems, services and solutions to enable an adviser to deliver quality advice in a sustainable profitable manner. Centrepoint is investing heavily on behalf of our advisers to overcome the compliance and administrative challenges they face. Our goal is to reduce our advisers cost to serve clients by 50%.

“An example is Ventura’s Managed Account Portfolio Service, (‘vMAPs’) launched in October. Using the latest technology and leading international service providers, vMAPs delivers far superior outcomes for clients compared to traditional platforms, managed funds or direct equities.

“We will continue to develop innovative best-of-breed services and solutions to enable advisers to provide the best quality advice and client service while also running efficient and profitable practices. In our view, the two objectives go hand in hand,” said Mr de Zwart.

“Our professional standards, adviser training and business development capabilities have been transformed and are increasingly being highly valued in the market.

“It is pleasing to see the hard work and commitment of all involved being rewarded with these results, as they are a solid indication that our strategy is working, and the Group is well positioned for sustainable, above market growth.”

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Bob Dodd, Chief Executive of the Centrepoint lending businesses said, ‘Centrepoint is totally committed to growing our lending solutions businesses. Our mortgage aggregation business has not been keeping up with industry pace over recent years, so we have made some changes.

‘As a non-institutionally owned alternate to the bank-owned or part-institutionally owned players, we believe we are in a good position to offer a bespoke service to brokers by enhancing their experience with education and training and a personalised, consistent and reliable service.

‘We have continued to invest in our broker systems and have formed a joint board with broker representatives to ensure we deliver added value and productivity gains.’

On recruitment of Frost, Dodd says, ‘Kevin’s appointment clearly illustrates our commitment to grow the business and continuing to help our existing and new brokers expand their businesses and our plan is to recruit further staff and introduce more brokers in the coming weeks.

‘We have a unique opportunity to introduce our mortgage and asset finance intermediaries to over 1,400 financial advisers and accountancy practices, as well as finding a number of general insurance brokers who are interested in our lending products too.

Kevin Frost says he is delighted with the appointment and firmly believes he is joining the business at the right time. ‘It’s fantastic that management realised the need to make change in order to grow. In the few weeks I have been here, there is clear evidence that the Centrepoint executive team are committed to our mortgage business and are assisting its total integration into the Centrepoint group.’

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Bob Dodd

Centrepoint Alliance Premium Funding Pty Ltd (‘Centrepoint’) and Steadfast Group Limited (‘Steadfast’) have announced the appointment of Centrepoint to become a preferred partner and provider of insurance premium funding facilities to the 306 strong Steadfast broker network.

Centrepoint has built relationships over a number of years with individual Steadfast Network Brokers, providing local service with a nationwide presence offering high quality, consistent and reliable service.

Robert Kelly, Managing Director and CEO of Steadfast, said “We are delighted to appoint Centrepoint as a preferred partner of Steadfast given the years of reliable and personalised service we have received. We believe together we can create a long term mutually rewarding relationship and build closer ties between our organisations”.

This agreement means that Steadfast can continue to ensure choice of providers to its growing number of broker businesses across Australia and New Zealand.

Bob Dodd, CEO of Centrepoint Alliance Premium Funding, said “We are very pleased to be given this opportunity. We take pride as a team in our delivery to brokers and we are committed to continue adding value by proactively supporting and enhancing our customer experience by delivering first class, consistent and reliable funding solutions”.

“It is important that we always recognise the broker as our primary customer taking a holistic, portfolio approach to heir business in respect of flexibility and risk management”.

The three year distribution agreement commences on 1 September 2014.

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Professional Investment Services has completed their Ongoing Monitoring Program (OMP) following ASIC’s recognition of the team’s significant improvement in the quality of advice, compliance and audit functions and a commitment to enhancing its financial advice risk management framework.

‘We are very pleased to announce the conclusion of Professional Investment Services’ Ongoing Monitoring Program with ASIC,’ says Centrepoint Managing Director John de Zwart.

‘This is another key milestone in the execution of the Group’s strategy and most importantly,increasing the quality of financial advice Australians receive.’

Professional Investment Services entered into the OMP of its financial advice risk management framework following the conclusion of its Enforceable Undertaking in 2013.

‘Over the past 12 months, we have made transformational strides in the business and we appreciate everyone’s support in this ongoing journey to build high quality business around high quality practices.

‘ASIC has acknowledged the changes we have made in our own business and now it’s our job to transform our industry and the way in which wealth advice and services are delivered to Australians,’says de Zwart.

Following the conclusion of the OMP, neither Professional Investment Services, nor any entity within the Centrep

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John de Zwart

Centrepoint Alliance Limited (Centrepoint) has reported pre-tax profit of $2.2m, up 229% on the prior corresponding period with overall revenues increasing by 2% to $27.4m.

The Premium Funding division had an excellent start to the year with strong growth in revenues, profits and market share. The Wealth Management division has made substantial progress in its transformation to become a highly respected customer and adviser centric business.

Centrepoint’s Managing Director John de Zwart says, ‘these great results reflect the continuous improvements we have made across the business and in particular, our adviser systems, standards and training, with further enhancements made to our practice development capabilities.

‘We have positioned Centrepoint for growth with management capabilities continuously being strengthened and the culture aligned with our vision of being a highly respected non-institutional service provider to financial advisers and licensees.’

The Premium Funding business has reported a strong underlying pre-tax result of $2.5m, up 32% on the prior corresponding period.

‘Recent industry consolidation has provided us with the perfect opportunity to grow our market share with a 25% increase in the number of brokers actively providing business to us. We invested in improvements to our IT systems which has enhanced the overall experience for our customers.

‘These improvements are greatly benefiting productivity and are resulting in repeat business,’ says de Zwart.

The Wealth Management business has reported an underlying pre-tax profit of $3.0m supported by stronger financial adviser engagement and cost management.

‘During this period, our financial adviser relationships have strengthened as a result of our change in culture and this being reflected in improved service and offerings to our networks.

‘The Group holds strong positions in segments of the financial services market which are fast growing and high margin. The business has an experienced team that is growing market share in each segment, building capabilities and delivering superb service to customers and clients.

‘A significant investment is being made in our people and technology to meet our customers’ needs, whilst assisting brokers, financial advisers and accountants to operate efficient and profitable businesses,’ says de Zwart.

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