Fortnum Financial Advisers has recruited its 15th member firm four months earlier than it had intended to, the dealer group has announced.
Fortnum executive director Ray Miles said in March this year he hoped Fortnum would have 15 practices on board by the end of the 2010 calendar year, doubling that figure to 30 just recently.
Southern Sydney-based firm John R Patterson is the 15th firm to join Fortnum and the 13th to join from Axa-owned dealer group Genesys Wealth Advisers (Genesys), where Miles was formerly the managing director.
Principal adviser John Patterson said the firm comprised three advisers, had eight staff in total and had over $100 million in funds under advice.
"There is no bad blood between us and Genesys," Patterson said.
"The universal managed account Fortnum is setting up will be very valuable to our business, and as we want to deal more in the self-managed super fund space, we decided to move away from institutionally run dealer groups.
"Some accounting firms we deal with want us to be independent or won't work with us, and while ING has a minority stake in Fortnum, it's still a group where advisers have control."
Miles said once Fortnum had 30 firms on board, the dealer group would most likely close its doors for a period of time in order to consolidate.
Miles said in an interview with InvestorDaily recently that while he had not spoken to ING and would require its support, he would potentially be interested in buying Genesys once it was clear who the new owner of its parent company, Axa Asia Pacific, will be.
