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

Licensing and business services partner, Akumin, and AMP have partnered to raise over $180,000 for Australia’s homeless community, with donations and pledges still being accepted until July 31.

Last Thursday, Akumin Chief Executive Officer, Matt Lawler, and AMP Group Executive of the North Platform, Edwina Maloney, participated in the annual Vinnies CEO Sleepout, spending a night on the streets to increase awareness of Australia’s homelessness crisis and raise critical funds for essential services including accommodation, food and counselling.

Established in 2006, the Vinnies CEO Sleepout is a national fundraising event that invites government, business and community leaders to sleep rough to support people in need.

Lawler and Maloney were joined by a number of practice principals and senior leaders from across Akumin and the broader Entireti group, which includes Fortnum, Personal Financial Services and Entireti Alliances.

Funds raised by Akumin, AMP and North for the CEO Sleepout were supported by the AMP Foundation, which has been helping communities in need for more than 30 years.

Lawler said the Vinnies CEO Sleepout was one of many important causes supported by Akumin and provided an opportunity for the group to give back to society.

“We are passionate about supporting society’s most vulnerable and needy, and I was extremely happy to share this experience with a number of our practices in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Adelaide,” he said.

“Edwina’s participation and the support of her team have been tremendous as we partner to raise much-needed funds for Australians experiencing homelessness.”

Maloney said AMP and the North team were delighted to continue their partnership with Akumin and take part in the CEO Sleepout to raise awareness and funds for Australians experiencing homelessness. “AMP Foundation doubles AMP employee giving, and the North teams participation in the CEO Sleepout is another important opportunity for us to show our support for individuals and families doing it tough,” she said.

Donations can be made to the Akumin and AMP Team until July 31.

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Neil Younger

Business services partner, Entireti, has partnered with specialist wealth management career and talent development platform, Striver, to launch a program that will place high quality graduates and job seekers in the group’s member firms, reinforcing its commitment to raising up the next generation of financial advisers.

The partnership will see Entireti’s advice networks, including Akumin, Fortnum and Personal Financial Services (PFS), white label Striver’s technology platform, which connects employers and candidates, and also features a range of education and training resources and tools.

Neil Younger, Entireti Group Chief Executive Officer, said the advice profession’s demand and supply challenges required greater attention from all stakeholders, including the government, tertiary education providers and service providers to the industry.

“We need more advisers to meet the advice needs of Australians and close the advice gap, and that includes investing in the next generation,” he said.

“As one of the largest advice business services providers, Entireti has the infrastructure and scale, and also a mandate, to invest in programs that will underpin the long-term growth and success of our advice businesses and the broader profession.”

Matt Lawler, Akumin Chief Executive Officer, said attracting and developing new entrants was in the group’s heritage and DNA and across the Akumin community many firms had mentored and continued to mentor professional year (PY) advisers.

He said the Striver partnership reflected the group’s desire to play an even bigger leadership role in replenishing adviser numbers, increasing the capacity of advice businesses to serve more clients, and building a sustainable, thriving profession.

“We’re here to help advice businesses grow and achieve their objectives, which involves attracting and retaining talent, and identifying future leaders,” Lawler said.

“We are excited to partner with Striver to connect employers and candidates, and create pathways for people to pursue a rewarding career in financial advice.”

Matt Brown, Chief Executive Officer of Fortnum and PFS said the partnership with Striver would connect employers and candidates, and create pathways for people to pursue a rewarding career in financial advice.

Alisdair Barr, Striver Founder and Chief Executive Officer, said Entireti currently represented the group’s only licensing and business services partnership, despite having garnered support from a number of fund managers, super funds, platforms and software providers.

“To achieve our mission to support 5,000 new advisers over the next decade to make advice accessible to 750,000 more Australians, we need to partner with organisations like Entireti to build a network of advice businesses that are committed to taking on new entrants, teaching them the ropes, and giving them a good experience so they stay in the profession and build their career,” he said.

“We’ve been successful at placing talent inside Akumin businesses for a number of years, leading to this opportunity to support the broader Entireti group, which we are extremely excited about.”

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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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Matt Lawler

Business services partner, Entireti, will rebrand its NewCo subsidiary to Akumin, reflecting the group’s mission to build a fresh identity and forge a new path as one of Australia’s leading non-institutional providers of licensing and business support services.

Speaking at the group’s annual adviser conference in Brisbane yesterday, Matt Lawler, Akumin Chief Executive Officer said the rebrand marked another significant milestone in its separation from AMP and also celebrated the knowledge, capability and creativity of the group’s financial advisers and their teams.

“The name Akumin is inspired by the professional judgement, discernment and acumen of the experienced people across our network,” he said.

“These qualities and strengths are critically important in financial advice but our businesses and people are also innovative and progressive so we wanted a brand that reflected all our unique attributes and would help us standout in a competitive market.”

Alexis George, AMP Chief Executive Officer said the rebrand signalled an exciting new era for the businesses within the Akumin network and the broader advice industry in Australia.

“AMP has always believed in the life-changing benefits of quality financial advice and will continue to be an advocate for the profession as we maintain our close relationship with Akumin,” she said.

The launch of Akumin follows Entireti’s recent acquisition of AMP Limited’s financial advice businesses, including AMP Financial Planning, Hillross and Charter Financial Planning, which had been temporarily operating as NewCo.

Akumin houses those offers including AMP Financial Planning, which will be rebranded to Akumin Financial Planning.

Late last year, Entireti appointed an external creative agency to help develop a new brand identity, in collaboration with the group’s employees and advisers, that encapsulated its vibrant culture, long history serving Australians and bright future.

The process involved surveys, brand workshops and one-on-one engagement, in close consultation with the group’s representative body, The Advisers Association (TAA).

From a shortlist of names, Akumin was selected by the network.

According to Neil Younger, Entireti Group Chief Executive Officer, the rebrand, just months after the completion of the AMP transaction in December, highlighted the desire of the group’s advisers and employees to move forward, under a new name, vision and strategy.

“It is really exciting to start this next chapter with a new brand, and we remain focused on supporting Akumin advisers through this transition,” he said.

“Akumin, alongside the broader Entireti business, has exciting plans to grow and expand the range of services we deliver to advice businesses.”

Representing The Advisers’ Association, Scott Montefiore, said advisers were highly engaged throughout the process, resulting in the creation of a “great brand”.

“Akumin captures the essence of our advice community and what we stand for,” he said.

“It is professional, modern and a good platform to build out a compelling licensee offering to advisers. We look forward to continuing to work together to represent, protect and enhance the interests of our members.”

In total, Entireti, which includes Fortnum Private Wealth, Personal Financial Services and Akumin, has circa 1,300 financial advisers, 400 businesses and around 180 employees.

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Neil Younger

Business services and licensing group, Entireti has completed the acquisition of AMP Limited’s financial advice businesses, including AMP Financial Planning, Hillross and Charter Financial Planning – currently referred to as NewCo – and unveiled the group’s expanded senior leadership team.

Entireti, which houses Fortnum Private Wealth, Personal Financial Services and NewCo, now has circa 1,300 financial advisers, 400 businesses and around 180 employees.

According to Neil Younger, Entireti Chief Executive Officer, the group’s large, experienced team and commitment to hitting completion targets ensured a smooth transition and minimal disruption to day-to-day operations for businesses coming across while also maintaining high standards of service and support for existing businesses.

“Across the business, there is a sense of excitement and a strong alignment of vision and purpose,” he said.

“We’re excited about extending our position as the best service provider to advice businesses in the market, and we have the right team, operating model and strategy to achieve that.”

“Our size enables us to deepen our services and solutions for advisers and their clients. At the same time, as a house of brands, we can provide personalised service and support, and preserve and foster the characteristics that make each underlying proposition unique.”

Under the group’s new structure, the executive leadership team consists of:

• Neil Younger, Group CEO and Managing Director
• Glen Castensen, Group Chief Operating and Financial Officer
• Daniela Mascarello, Executive General Manager, Group Risk
• Matt Lawler, CEO NewCo (AMPFP, Hillross, Charter & Jigsaw)
• Matt Brown, CEO, Fortnum & PFS
• Cassandra Salmon, Executive General Manager, Group Technology
• Simone Munro, Executive General Manager, Group People and Brand
• Nick Hilton, Executive General Manager, Advice Delivery
• John Carnevale, Executive General Manager, Investment Services.

Younger said the group had plans about how to grow together, leveraging its national footprint.

“Our focus is not about being the largest, it’s about increasing our relevance for advisers and their clients both now and into the future,” he said.

“Our model supports multiple advisory brands and propositions under the one roof, underpinned by high quality, centralised shared services. We are an all-encompassing business partner to the advice community and our intent is to continue evolving our offerings to help advice businesses expand their capacity and capability so they can help more people and, in doing so, grow their business.”

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The team from Deakin University was one of eight finalists taking part on the day.

Now in its 14th year, AMP’s University Challenge is an annual financial planning competition for university students across the country.

Held in Melbourne, this year’s event provides a platform for identifying promising new talent and promoting high standards of education and professionalism among the next generation of advisers.

More than 6000 students from 21 universities across Australia have participated in the Challenge since it first began in 2011, with many going on to join the financial advice profession.

The AMP University Challenge is integrated into the curriculum and assessment and promoted among students studying financial planning majors at participating tertiary institutions including RMIT, Macquarie University and Deakin University.

Finalists were tested on their technical knowledge, undertook a mock advice interview with two clients and delivered a presentation on how advisers can position themselves to make the most of the intergenerational wealth transfer.

The finals were also a chance for the students to speak with senior advice professionals and financial planning academics and get advice on their studies and career opportunities.

Up to $6,000 prize money was on offer with the winning team taking home $3,000.

The judges for AMP’s University Challenge for 2024 were:

• Mathew Gale, General Manager and Director, Hanmoore Financial Solutions
• Marshall Ross, Partner Education Manager, MLC Life Insurance
• Phil Anderson, General Manager Policy, Advocacy and Standards, FAAA

The final placings for this year’s event were:

• 1st place: Jack Weiland, Jordan Bertucci and Ryan Auwardt (Deakin University)
• 2nd place: Muyeang Seng and Christian Mahon (Deakin University)
• 3rd place: John McMahon (TAFE NSW)

Matt Lawler, Group Executive, Advice at AMP said: “I’d like to congratulate all the finalists at AMP’s University Challenge for 2024, together with our winners Jack, Jordan and Ryan from Deakin University. At AMP, we’re passionate about empowering the next generation of advisers as a core pillar in helping continue to instil confidence in the professionalism of financial advice.

“Our team continues to work hard to strengthen our relationships with our tertiary partners, helping provide scholarships to the next generation of students and aspiring financial planning professionals.

“Together with Entireti, we will take advantage of our combined scale and service capability to play our part in helping guide the next cohort of talented advisers, nurturing and forming new pathways for careers in this outstanding profession.”

Mathew Gale, General Manager and Director, Hanmoore Financial Solutions said: “The AMP University Challenge is a valuable initiative for fostering the next generation of financial advisers.  We believe it is important to support programs that inspire and motivate those taking the steps to become true qualified advisers focused on providing high quality financial advice.

“This competition, combined with the Professional Year, plays a vital role in shaping well-rounded, capable advisers who will contribute to the future of financial advice in Australia.”

Marshall Ross, Partner Education Manager, MLC Life Insurance said: “It’s exciting to have the opportunity to see the exceptional standard from the student finalists at the AMP University Challenge and the huge potential they have to contribute to the financial advice profession moving forward. While the judging decisions were in no doubt challenging, these awards provide well-deserved recognition and help grow the profile of a future career in financial advice.”

Phil Anderson, General Manager Policy, Advocacy and Standards, FAAA said: “I was excited to be involved in the judging of AMP’s University Challenge again in 2024. This award is an excellent platform for highlighting and celebrating the outstanding students coming through the financial planning education system. This award shines a spotlight on the fantastic profession that financial advice is and the great opportunity it presents for those who are seeking to join a profession that delivers so much value to many Australians. We hope initiatives like this will help attract more young Australians into the profession over the coming years.”

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Matt Lawler

AMP Advice is pleased to announce that wealth management and strategic consulting group Stantins Financial Services has joined its network.

With its headquarters in Hawthorne in Melbourne, Stantins is a holistic, multi-disciplinary financial services firm that specialises in financial advice, estate planning, wealth management, accounting, business and lending advisory.

Stantins provides expert financial advice tailored to support the needs of small to medium businesses, multi-generational companies, start-ups and scale-ups. The group also provides both residential and commercial lending, servicing hundreds of client groups and self-managed super funds.

Practice principal and founder Spiros Livadaras said the move to join AMP Advice was driven by a desire to improve both Stantins’ cross-selling capacity, as well as differentiating their existing value proposition to help generate more financial advice opportunities and grow the business.

“We decided to align with a professional services partner who shares our broader vision, beyond the scope of financial planning alone,” he said.

Enhancing efficiency and effectiveness

The ability to operate independently while still benefiting from the practice management support and guidance of a larger professional services provider was another key reason why Stantins decided to join AMP Advice.

“In our commitment to continued growth, it was crucial to find a partner who not only understands the diverse financial needs of our clients, including lending solutions, but also supports our goals to enhance efficiency and effectiveness,” Livadaras said.

“With this partnership with AMP Advice, we will be able to offer innovative new financial solutions that better serve the evolving needs of our clients.”

Adviser satisfaction and practice profitability

According to AMP’s 1H 24 results, AMP Advice has continued to grow its advice revenue and its revenue per practice, up 16% and 11.6% respectively on the last quarter.

Adviser satisfaction remains strong at 80% for the period, according to AMP’s Advice Network Survey, a result driven by improved support service levels, as well as a sense of community and connection across the network.

Matt Lawler, AMP Group Executive, Advice said: “We’re thrilled to be welcoming Stantins Financial Services to our network as we continue to focus on supporting high quality financial advice firms across Australia.”

“We take the opportunity of working with Advice practices who see us as the right partner to help them achieve their goals very seriously – whether it’s growth, profitability or the ability to operate autonomously while continuing to benefit from the advantages of being part of a larger advice community, our team is here to add value.”

“Spiros has been helping both emerging businesses and individual Australian households with expert tailored financial advice and strategies around wealth creation for over 30 years.

“Together with Entireti, we have the right scale and strength to deliver a high-quality professional service for practices like Stantins, helping them take advantage of the talent, expertise and experience offered by both organisations.

“We are excited to be partnering Spiros and his team at Stantins into the future and we look forward to supporting them in their business growth endeavours.”

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Matt Lawler

AMP has partnered with advice community and careers technology platform Striver for its annual Brimstone event series, to be held in Sydney next week.

Now in its second year, Brimstone brings together current university students and graduates from across Australia as well as those seeking a career change into financial planning.

More than 400 students attended the Brimstone series to date, providing an important space for new entrants and aspiring advisers to hear from some of Australia’s largest licensees, advice practices and explore career opportunities within the financial advice profession.

Feedback received by Striver from students at last year’s Sydney event revealed more than 4 in 5 people would now consider advice as a career path. In addition, 2 in 5 attendees at the event were female, underscoring the importance of events like Brimstone in promoting careers in financial planning.

This year is the first time that Brimstone expanded interstate, with roadshows across Melbourne, Brisbane as well as Perth held last month.

Matt Lawler, AMP Group Executive, Advice said: “At AMP, we’re passionate about helping nurture and empower the next generation of advisers, helping instil confidence in the professionalism of financial advice.

“As a foundational partner of the Brimstone series, we welcome the opportunity to play our part in helping guide the next cohort of talented advisers and creating pathways for new entrants in advice.

“This year, AMP Advice has welcomed almost 40 ‘new to the advice profession’ advisers to its fold. We would like to increase that fourfold. With an increasing demand for financial advice from Australians, financial advice represents an exciting career path for graduates and we are keen to support the pathway of interested candidates through our practices around the country.

“Together with Striver, the team at AMP Advice continues to work hard to strengthen our relationships with our tertiary partners, helping provide scholarships to the next generation of students and aspiring financial planning professionals.”

Alisdair Barr, Striver CEO and Founder said: “The Brimstone series has been super successful over the last 12 months but it is only the beginning. We are feeling the groundswell of change and working with licensee groups like AMP adds magnitude and gravitas to the movement we are creating.

“We know this next generation of advisers are seeking structured pathways and clarity of opportunities which have been affected over the last few years so we are recreating those career pathways from the ground up, making advice as a career more accessible than it has been.

“With the audience Brimstone attracts, these events emphasise the social impact that careers like advice have in making a difference to many Australian futures.

“Through our partnership, AMP is showcasing support for creating fulfilling careers and promoting advice as a career. If your firm supports growing the next generation of advisers, we encourage you to join us at Brimstone.”

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Matt Lawler

AMP Advice is pleased to announce the official launch of Hatch Financial Group, an aligned advice practice in Western Australia.

Led by Nick Hatch, an experienced adviser who has been with AMP for almost 20 years, Hatch Financial Group provides strategic advice to young professionals and small business owners, as well as retirees and pre-retirees across Perth and regional WA.

Practice principal and founder Nick Hatch started his career as a co-owner of All West Financial Group licensed by Charter, a division of AMP Financial Planning, where he specialised in retirement advice.

He ran the business with his partner Martin Welsh for 16 years before it was acquired by Sage Financial Group in 2021.

Hatch decided to take the next step in his professional journey and establish his own practice under the AMP Advice network, which offers him the autonomy and flexibility to run his business as he sees fit, while still benefiting from the support and guidance of a large and reputable licensee.

He enjoys helping his clients achieve their financial goals and providing them with ongoing support throughout their life stages.

“Providing opportunities to more Australians and presenting options to put them in a better financial position is really what we’re doing,” Hatch said.

“Being able to continue looking after that relationship and being able to effectively hold their hand through retirement is really what is valued by your clients.”

The ability to run his own practice while still benefiting from the support and guidance of a larger licensee was one of the key reasons Hatch set up its own business and joined AMP Advice.

“I’ve been with Charter for many years and I wanted to continue on with that relationship. It’s been a mutually beneficial relationship over the years and that sort of continuity was important for me,” Hatch said.

Autonomy with dedicated ongoing support

Equally important was the opportunity to be able to run his own business through a flexible business model and have a more diverse business offering, a trend which is becoming more common with smaller advice practices in Australia.

According to Adviser Ratings, small practices of one to 10 advisers have seen a 17 per cent rise since 2018, with a growing number of advisers preferring to start their own practice or join a micro-AFSL^[1].

“For me, it was that having the autonomy here again to be able to run my own business, being in control of what I was doing was really appealing to me. And also, remaining in Charter was a big thing for me,” Hatch said.

“AMP Advice have got a strong compliance program and I’ve got some strong relationships there with the management. It’s always really important to understand who the people are you are dealing with. They really delivered on what they said they were going to do, which was a key aspect. And it’s been great.”

Matt Lawler, AMP Group Executive, Advice said: “We’re thrilled to be welcoming Hatch Financial Group to our network as we continue to focus on growth and building out our licensee offer for more advice practices across Australia.”

“As the operator of one of Australia’s largest licensee networks, we understand what advice practices are looking for to operate profitably and compliantly under a corporate license.”

“AMP is the right partner to help more practices large and small across Australia to achieve their goals – whether it’s growth or the ability to operate autonomously while continuing to benefit from the advantages of being part of a larger licensee.”

“We also understand many advisers are looking to run their practice under their own license so we’ve packaged our services and capability into Jigsaw Advice Solutions, which we’re confident will benefit the growing number of self-licensed financial advisers.”

“Nick has been providing financial advice and support to his Perth client community for almost 20 years and the establishment of Hatch Financial Group in WA is an exciting step forward for his advice business.”

“We wish Nick and his team every success for the future and we look forward to supporting him in business.”

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[1] Source: Adviser Ratings. A spotlight on Australia’s average financial adviser: Adviser Ratings | Adviser Ratings

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