Cruz is a respected and experienced compliance operative, who has also worked at Count Financial previously. At IOOF he managed the audit for a number of businesses, including the Lonsdale dealer group.

Premium CEO, Paul Harding-Davis said: “Johan is part of the new generation of wealth management professionals who have majored in financial planning as part of his business degree.

“We conducted an extensive search to fill this critical role and we are confident we have found the right person in Johan – he has the credentials, experience and importantly, is an excellent cultural fit with our team of advisers.

“Johan’s extensive experience working with both accountants and financial planners will be an important asset in working with Premium, given our multiple service models.”

Premium Wealth Management has more than $2 billion under advice.

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Simon Wu

The companies announced this morning that they have executed a non-binding indicative offer under which Australian Unity Personal Financial Services would acquire all the shares in Premium Wealth Management.

The board of Premium Wealth Management is recommending to shareholders that they consider the terms of acquisition with Australian Unity.

Australian Unity said its desire is to retain the Premium brand strategy, operating model and client proposition.

Commenting on the potential acquisition, Australian Unity Personal Financial Services CEO Mr Steve Davis said the addition of Premium would increase Australian Unity’s financial advice capability and its exposure in the accountants’ space.

“It should also better position Australian Unity Personal Financial Services to take advantage of opportunities arising from the significant regulatory and environmental changes impacting the profession,” he said.

Mr Davis added: “Premium is a successful business, with a high quality group of advisers that has substantial revenue, funds under advice and clients, and will be a significant contributor to increasing the scale and strength of Australian Unity Personal Financial Services.

“Importantly, it will be business as usual for Premium’s authorised representatives and clients,” he said.

Premium Wealth Management chairman and founder, Mr Simon Wu, said his board is attracted to Australian Unity for many reasons, including their long term involvement in the accountants’ market and that they clearly see the value of Premium and recognise the quality of their practices.

“Also, Australian Unity is culturally and philosophically aligned with us.  They are a well respected 174 year old mutual and they have always prioritised client best interest and advisory integrity, and have an open architecture environment for investments and insurances,” Mr Wu said.

Mr Paul Harding-Davis, CEO of Premium, said FoFA was a catalyst for Premium to explore other options.

“FoFA effectively closed down many organic growth options, and it became clear we would need to either engage in mergers and acquisitions of our own, or invite a like-minded organisation to partner with us, to enable us to compete in a predominately vertically integrated world.

“In the end, we think the option of engaging with a culturally aligned entity to acquire us makes sense and will, we believe, deliver the most benefits to each shareholder and practice,” he said.

The acquisition requires approval by Premium shareholders and the Australian Unity board, and is subject to due diligence by Australian Unity Personal Financial Services.

The acquisition, should it proceed, is expected to take effect on October 2014.

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Viney, is a former general manager of practice development at IOOF’s Lonsdale Financial Group.

Premium’s managing director Paul Harding-Davis said: “Justin has extensive experience across both financial planning and accountancy practice development and will be a valuable asset to Premium as we grow the business.”

“His key brief will be to interact with accounting firms seeking to broaden their offering to include a rigorous and proven financial planning option. Premium’s experience, systems and accreditation offers small and medium practices, in particular, an attractive pathway to broadening the advice services they can offer clients,” he said.

Justin Viney is a Certified Practising Accountant and financial adviser. He has owned his own accounting and financial planning practices and is an experienced Responsible Manager for AFSL’s.

“I am very excited to be joining Premium Wealth Management. I look forward to working with Paul and the team as we roll out new licensing solutions which are particularly suited for accountancy practitioners looking for a flexible and professional licensing offer,” said Mr.Viney.

Premium Wealth Management has more than $2billion under advice.

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Premium Wealth Management has further expanded its membership base with Queensland-based practice Total Solutions Group joining its dealer group.

Total Solutions Group manages the accounts for 8,000 clients of Save on Tax in two offices.  Save on Tax Principal Peter Mitchelson is a former academic in tax and accounting, and an accomplished author for the largest academic publishing houses in the world. Peter designed Australia’s first online Masters in Financial Planning degree program, fully accredited by the FPA in 2001.Total Solutions Group was born to service the financial and lending needs of the Save on Tax clientele and provide an additional layer to their exceptional service.

Premium CEO, Paul Harding-Davis, said Queensland is continuing to be an area of strong growth for the dealer group.

“Premium gives our member organisations the opportunity to continue operating as boutique businesses, while at the same time streamlining back office systems and gaining economies of scale.  Queensland has always favoured the boutique model, so we are pleased that our approach continues to find resonance in this market.

“Peter Mitchelson and his team, including Michael Chazikantis, the Director of Total Solutions Group, have ambitious growth plans and I found our discussions to represent a new way of thinking about business growth in this market.  We are very pleased to welcome Total Solutions Group to Premium Wealth.

Peter Mitchelson said Premium Wealth was a natural fit with his business.

“I knew the excellent reputation of the Group and that they have helped many other businesses successfully grow, while remaining non-institutionally owned.  I also believe the strong compliance regime, education and support systems sets Premium apart from other dealer groups.”

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CEO of Premium, Paul Harding-Davis said ‘We like to provide our practices with innovative and client focused resources. We found the Knowledge Centre is a great addition to our adviser’s websites and a tangible addition to the client service proposition’.

The dealer group liked the fact that each Knowledge Centre can be branded in line with the individual practices.

‘In the last couple of years there has been a much greater focus on what advisers are providing their clients online’ says Robert Skinner of innergi.

‘An adviser should be focussed on seeing and servicing clients , and not on creating a massive online resource’, added Skinner, who sold his planning practice four years ago to focus on innergi with his business partner Matt Linnert.

Skinner added ‘The Knowledge Centre does not replace a personal social media strategy. However, it can certainly enhance it. In saying that many of our clients are not heavily involved in social media’.

Innergi’s Knowledge Centre provides a wide base of engaging and educational content for the clients of the planner. As it is fully branded by the practice, it naturally forms part of an extension to an existing website.

Many studies have pointed to the importance of regular communication with clients – innergi’s platform generates a regular monthly newsletter, with new content added each month. Premium was attracted to the fact that the newsletters are dynamic and encourage clients to go on a self-discovery journey through to other segments of the resource – each visitor views 10 pages on average when they use the Knowledge Centre.

Skinner concludes ‘In this technology based environment, it is good to be in a position to help planners add to their client propositions and tools they provide to clients. I think it is good for a planner to provide a safe, branded educational platform to clients. It is an additional demonstration of the care for the client’s financial wellbeing.’

Innergi’s Financial Knowledge Centre includes modules, videos, articles, life event activities, calculators, quizzes, jargon busters, downloads and a regular competition. A recent enhancement for innergi’s platform has been the administration portal. The portal allows advisers to add, edit or delete content – giving advisers control of what is on their individual Knowledge Centre platform.

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Boston Private Wealth is located in Sanctuary Cove and is headed by Neil Heriot. Mr Heriot has been operating as a financial advisor for more than 25 years. Boston manages the financial affairs of more than 100 clients and has been a long-time advocate of a ‘fee for service’ model.

Premium CEO, Paul Harding-Davis, said although Premium had not been specifically focusing on the Queensland area, the state is well-known for its boutique advice firms and the flexible business model of Premium was well suited to firms who wanted to retain control of the way in which their business is managed.

Queensland based director John Woodhouse said “Premium Wealth is finding many like-minded boutique advisory firms, who want the support of a national dealer group, but without the constraints of institutional ownership. Queensland has always been a prime location for the boutique firm, given its large number of retirees, small business people and growth
prospects. We are very excited to welcome Boston to our group and we look forward to announcing further recruitment in the coming months.”

Earlier this year, Premium announced that Meridien Wealth and Platinum Wealth had joined the dealer group. Both are based in Queensland.

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Platinum’s group of companies has been in operation for almost 12 years, recently adding wealth management to its suite of client services. 

Premium CEO, Paul Harding-Davis, said Premium wasvery pleased to expand its Queensland reach and welcome Platinum to the Premium group. 

“We are actively growing our firm through alliances with firms that want the support of dealer network, but also wish to remainfree of institutional ownership.  Platinum is our second Queensland alliance in as many months, with Meridien Wealth Management joining us in August.  We are very pleased to welcome Platinum to the group and look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship, for both our businesses and clients.” 

Platinum Principal, Robert Kirk, said the firm had looked at a number of dealer groups and found that Premium was the best fit for its business and clients.  

“We were looking for a group with similar depth of knowledge and focus on holistic financial management, rather than simply selling life insurance or other products.  As Premium was founded by accountants, we were attracted to the focus on training and qualifications that the group holds.  Additionally, as Premium operates on a fixed rate and is not driven by volume or funds under advice fees, it made a better fit for our business.” 

Mr Harding-Davis said he anticipated that the recently announced accountants licencing program will also lead to additional recruitment in the near future. 

‘We will offer the three tiers of licencing and the support services that go along with it, such as monitoring, audit and training.  Additionally, accountants will need to be RG146 compliant, so we provide access to the necessary training packages, along with a sensible pricing model.  As most of our advisers are part of accounting firms, we also offer significant advantages with our collegiate approach to knowledge sharing. We believe the referral opportunities this will create will also be of significant value for the advisors in our network.”

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Meridien Wealth has been in operation for more than 15 years and is headquartered inCairns, with satellite offices in Sydney and Melbourne. 

The Firm was purchased by former fund manager, David Adiseshan and became a Corporate Authorised Representative of Premium on 25 June 2012. 

Premium CEO, Paul Harding-Davis, said Premium had recently announced a number of new initiatives for the Group and that the recruitment was representative of the strong demand for the Premium dealer group model.  

“We recently announced that we have formed an alliance with The Emerald Club toprovide licencee and dealer group support for members.  

“Additionally, we have developed a new succession planning policy that we believe sets us apart from other dealer groups and removes one of the main barriers to small firms groups remainingnon-institutionally owned.  

“These initiatives are important steps in running a dealer group that delivers real value to its adviser members.  If our members have the right support structures in place, they can focus on delivering a highly-valued and professional level of service; and not simply become part of the product-distribution focused world of institutionally owned planning firms.” 

Mr Adiseshan was previously Chief Investment Officer of Balmain Corporation, an Australian commercial mortgage originator and fund manager. He has also held senior roles in institutional funds management with Lend Lease and Rothschild and was Managing Director of Massachusetts Financial Services in Australia. 

Meridien Wealth MD, David Adiseshan, said; “Businesses focusing on providing quality advice in challenging markets require Licensees capable of evolving with them.  Advice business models are evolving in response to changed investor circumstances and a bolstered regulatory environment.  We believe selecting a capable Licensee partner is as important as selecting one independent from the big 4 Australian banks.”

 1 August 2012

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The Premium Safety Net provides Premium advisory firms with an immediate solution to preserve the value of the business and removestress for families in the event of unexpected illness or death of key advisors.

Premium CEO, Paul Harding-Davis said Premium has already developed a comprehensive succession planning strategy and that this addition will be of particular value for small advice firms and those dependent on one or two key advisors. “This solution was developed after we consulted with one of practices that relies upon a sole principal.

He was concerned about the interests of his partner, should something unexpected happen to him,” he said.

“And he was right to worry; I know of one instance where the principal of a small firm passed away unexpectedly and his wife could not even access the business accounts.”

“If the lead or co-lead of an advice firm becomes ill or passes away, this can leave the family, the firm and clients in tenuous and difficult position.  The familywill be under considerable stress and the value of the business can quicklydiminish as clients look for another group to handle their affairs. We believe the Safety Net will create some comfort for for the family in a difficult time and will help ensure the value of the business is preserved.”

Under the plan, Premium can take immediate charge of the business to help ensure client needs are met and value is preserved.

“More importantly, we will also rapidly deliver a payment to the family, which can help ease the pressure at what will be a difficult time,” Mr Harding-Davis said.

“Over the next 12 months to two years, we will work with the family tor estate administrators to identify the best exit strategy for the firm and maximize sale value.”

Terry Bell of Business Health said he thought theinitiative was an innovative solution to a far-reaching problem.

“For 12 years I have been providing a range of diagnostic and support tools for advice firms on viability and profitability. I think the solution developed by Premium is innovative and creates a win-win for the family, the estate and the business. I also think it clearly demonstrates Premium’s commitment to its members and their clients.”

Mr Bell helped Premium develop its original Success Ready program. Mr Harding-Davis said he believed these programs were a strong differentiator for Premium.

“We know that taking care of the ongoing needs of our members and their clients, is just as important as solving any current issues.  Therefore, at Premium we aim to develop solutions that preserve and protect current and future value and relationships.”

25 July 2012

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The firm, Pearman Financial Management, is located in The Centre, Forestville in Sydney’s north. The Firm was established in 1999 with a specialist focus on risk insurance. 

Principal Advisor, Glynn Pearman, said; “We were looking for a business model that would allow us to further develop our risk management specialisation.   Premium offered a far more flexible model than other dealer groups, one that allows us to manage our clients in the way that has worked for us for many years.”

 Premium CEO, Paul Harding-Davis, said Premium wasactively recruiting advice firms who wished to maintain business autonomy in the wake of wide-scale buy-outs by major banks and institutions. 

“The business model of Premium is focused on allowing advisor firms to build their own business models without the constraints ofvolume-based fees or in-house products to push to clients.  This allows our members to grow their own businesses in the way that suits them and their clients.  We are finding that this model is particularly attractive to independently-minded firms as more and more dealer groups are swallowed up by the big institutions.  

“Pearman stood out among other firms we have reviewed, thanks to their very strong compliance focus.  We welcome Pearman to the Premium team and look forward to making further announcements on our expansion in the coming months.” 

Pearman Financial Management is comprised of two principals and four staff and services approximately 500 individuals and families on Sydney’s North Shore.

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