Mercer is aiming to make inroads into the retail wealth management sector in Australia, after the consultancy company created a separate global structure for the operations.

The firm committed last year to substantially grow its wealth management consultancy activities, but relied largely on part-time commitments from existing global staff.

It has now created a separate structure for the business, which is part of the company's investment consultancy pillar.
 
To lead the new global division, Mercer has appointed Cara Williams as global head of its wealth management consulting service.

Williams, who is based in London, was Mercer Investment Consulting global chief operating officer for the past six years.

"Cara's appointment is very important. We will be coming up with a global market strategy that is predicated on growth," Mercer head of wealth management consulting in Australian and New Zealand Brian Long said.

"That will likely include resourcing up heavily."

Mercer's Australasian investment operations, which have about $44 billion in funds under management, have traditionally focused on institutional clients.

But the proposed Future of Financial Advice reforms have accelerated demand for fund research, governance and product manufacturing consultancy services from groups that target high net worth investors.

"There are many dealer groups that are trying to build their own products and we can help them set up their structure," Long said.

Mercer has also had wins in the provision of fund research among these companies, including Lifespan Financial Planning and Risk and Investment Advisors.

"They like the fact that we have researchers on the ground globally," Long said.

"It takes time to build up market share, but we aim to be a dominant player in this space within the next three years."