A greater focus on business accountability is driving growth in almost a third of Australian Financial Services' (AFS) advisory practices, according to AFS chief executive Peter Daly.
The privately-owned dealer group implemented a board of advice strategy into 30 of its 100 practices last year, which Daly said was now bearing fruit.
The initiative involved collaboration between the executive management team, a regional manager and a principal from each practice, who met on a regular basis.
"We literally act like a board and what we are doing is bringing a degree of accountability to the practice, and that is the most important ingredient," he said.
The practices that adopted the strategy had since experienced 32 per cent growth for the first six months of implementation to June 30, 2008, Daly said.
"That type of growth in this market is outstanding. The practices that have not [established a board of advice] are only experiencing an 8 per cent growth, so you are looking at nearly five times that growth, which is just spectacular in these markets," he said.
While survival was the name of the game for some dealer groups in the current market climate, Daly said that was not the case for AFS.
"I think in this market you can thrive if you have the right montage of services, and if you yourself are getting out among your practices and working directly with them. That is what we are trying to do," he said
