Sunshine Coast firm, Ethica Private Wealth Specialists, was named Advice Firm of the Year (gross revenue less than $1M), and Brisbane firm, Financial Advice Matters Group, was named Advice Firm of the Year (gross revenue in excess of $1M).

Ethica Private Wealth Specialists beat finalists, Centaur Financial Services and Convergence Wealth Management, to take out their category. Michael Goodwin accepted the award on behalf of his firm and thanked Centrepoint Alliance and his Management Consultant, Jason McArthur, for ‘making us look at ourselves’ and for ‘pushing us outside of our comfort zone’.

Darren Smith, CEO of Financial Advice Matters Group, said the award was ‘unexpected’ and ‘meant a lot’. He thanked his team at Financial Advice Matters Group for all their work and congratulated the other finalists in his category – Citadel Wealth Solutions and Stephens Plattfuss & Co Financial Services – saying, “it’s great to be associated with some great businesses.”

Group Executive Advice, Soula Cargakis, said this year’s awards, which were independently administered by Business Health, are an indicator of the high quality of advice firms in Centrepoint’s community.

Ms Cargakis said, “Stephens Plattfuss & Co Financial Services were actually the category winners of last year’s Advice Firm of the Year (gross revenue less than $1M). It’s just fabulous to see them as a finalist in Advice Firm of the Year (gross revenue in excess of $1M) this year and is a wonderful demonstration of their success. I’m thrilled that Centrepoint has been able to play a role in helping them achieve that.”

Angus Benbow, CEO of Centrepoint Alliance and member of this year’s judging panel, said all the award winners and finalists should be proud of their achievements and recognition. He said the judging panel, which also included Ray Henderson of Business Health, Phil Kewin of AFA, and Simon Hoyle of CoreData, were impressed with the quality of firms they judged.

Mr Benbow commented, “Taking part in the Advice Firm of the Year awards for the first time has been a great experience and my congratulations go to all the winners and finalists. It takes courage and confidence to put your business forward to be judged and I applaud all the advisers in our community who submitted entries for doing so. The quality of businesses being run by the winners and finalists are a credit to our community.”

The post Queensland takes out honours in Centrepoint Alliance 2018 Advice Firm of the Year Awards appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Former Head of Advice Partnerships and Membership at FPA – Jason Tattershall – joined the advice services group this month, taking responsibility for business growth in NSW and Queensland.

Distribution and Marketing Executive, Soula Cargakis, said, “Centrepoint has seen increasing interest and opportunities come our way and while our team has embraced the challenge, we are thankful to have Jason and his experience on board.”

Tattershall, who was also Alliance Manager at Bridges Financial Services, said, “It’s an exciting time to be joining Centrepoint given their unique positioning in the market. I’m looking forward to getting out on the road and talking with advisers in NSW and Queensland about some of the exciting developments that are in store for Centrepoint’s adviser community.”

The post Centrepoint Alliance adds another growth manager to the team appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Soula Cargakis

Centrepoint Alliance Limited (ASX Code: CAF) (‘Centrepoint’ or the ‘Group’) announced it has grown EBITDA from core continuing operations, excluding one-off expenditure, by 9% to $2.4m from the prior comparable period (pcp). Centrepoint also announced a fully franked interim ordinary dividend of 1.2 cents per share.

Centrepoint continues to deliver to its strategic plan by transforming its Wealth business with Alliance Wealth (licensed advice) and Associated Advisory Practices (self-licensed advice) attracting 90 new quality firms to the Group in the past two years.

Centrepoint’s Funds under Management and Administration (FUMA) increased 14% to $3.9bn on pcp – with gross inflows consistently above $500m – and its Managed Account solution continues to see strong support with balances increasing 83% over the 12 months to $434m.

Significant investments were made during the year into new advice technology, additional outsourced services for advice firms, marketing, and salaried advisers. This, along with an additional legacy claims provision relating to financial product advice given prior to 1 July 2010, the announced appointment of Angus Benbow as CEO, and the decision to unwind the executive loan share schemes resulted in a net loss after tax of $0.8m.

Soula Cargakis, Interim Chief Executive Officer, said, “Our core business continues to strengthen in terms of the depth and breadth of solutions – all of which are focused on the clients’ best interest. We have a strong platform and we are looking forward to Angus Benbow joining the business as CEO to lead the next stage of growth.”

Further strategic investments were made in the development of Neos Life – an Australian based life insurance business which will offer well rated, client focused life insurance products through financial advisers. Additionally, Centrepoint’s investment in a Chief Investment Officer will shortly result in the launch of Presidium portfolios which will strengthen our solutions for clients and advisers.

The Chairman, Alan Fisher, noted, “The underlying results are a reflection of strong employee engagement and better client outcomes – this continues to differentiate Centrepoint. There is a great opportunity to increase growth and continue to drive improvements across all areas of our business to improve the experience for our advisers and their clients.”

The post Centerpoint posts solid 1H18 result as it prepares for next phase of growth appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Soula Cargakis

Centrepoint Alliance are excited to announce the Spring Masterclass event series for Financial Advisers – being delivered around the country this October.

A key feature of our education calendar, Centrepoint masterclasses are held in all major cities nationally and feature a full-day of inspiring and interactive content delivered by industry experts. Distribution and Marketing Executive, Soula Cargakis, said, “Education is so important to our value proposition as a leading provider of non-aligned advice.

“When we initially developed the masterclass series, our intention was to create a forum where advisers could learn from technical experts with real-life examples, and also hear the experience and learnings of like-minded peers.

“Now, we see such demand for these face-to-face learning and networking opportunities that, for the first time ever, we are providing advisers from outside our community the opportunity to attend as a delegate.”

The Spring Masterclass will cover topics such as building a better practice around strategic advice, developing and implementing your investment philosophy, the latest in compliance and risk management, as well as facilitating Q&A sessions and networking opportunities. Advisers will be eligible to receive 4.7 CPD points for attending.

Ms Cargakis continued, “Advisers love the chance to apply strategies to hypothetical case studies to fully understand their practical outcomes. It’s this type of learning which really differentiates our masterclass series.

“Our upcoming Spring Masterclass is the perfect excuse to step out of the office, broaden your mind, and empower you and your business before the year is out.”

The Spring Masterclass series will kick off in Brisbane on the 11th October before making its way around the country. For advisers outside the Centrepoint community, we are offering an early-bird discount of $300, which finishes next Friday.

“Centrepoint events are the perfect place to meet and network with like-minded non-aligned advisers,” said Ms. Cargakis. “Places are filling up very fast around the country so if you’re interested in getting a taste of what Australia’s leading non-aligned advice community is all about, I encourage you to attend.”

The post Spring’ into learning with Centrepoint Alliance appeared first on AdviserVoice.