Tower Australia will revamp its risk-focused dealer group, Pivotal Financial Advisers, by tripling the number of advisers in three years and broadening its service offering.
The life office plans to take on more salaried financial planners to provide low-cost advice, in addition to boosting its ranks from 60 to 150.
“With Pivotal we’ve found, post FSR [financial services reform], that a lot of clients aren’t getting serviced,” Tower Australia managing director Jim Minto told InvestorDaily
Pivotal Financial Advisers chief executive Mark Schroeder has the task of building the Australia-wide risk specialist network – but has a strict brief not to poach planners.
As Financial Wealth chief executive, Schroeder signed up to 50 advisers with more than $1.2 billion funds under advice in two years. He left Financial Wealth in March.
“My goal would not be a dealership that’s actively trying to poach people off others. Part of our proposition is to have dealer partnerships and persuade dealers to write business with us,” Minto said.
“Poaching advisers and alienating other dealers would be exactly the opposite direction of what we want to do. We’re happy to recruit people on the move.”
Pivotal has $16 million of in-force premium.
Tower Australia’s Retail Life business had $413 million in force premium at September 30, 2007.
It ranks sixth in the sector and has an 11 per cent market share.
