Fortnum targets advisers with new low-cost option

Fortnum Financial Group chairman Ray Miles said the Netwealth deal allowed Fortnum to begin conversations with new advisers and reignite discussions with advisers who previously did not suit the dealer group's premium, full-service licensing offer.

It gave advisers who specifically wanted to align themselves with a non-institutionally-owned licensee another creditable option, while positioning Fortnum strongly for future growth.

"We have Fortnum's existing full service offer as well as a lower cost option for advisers who want to continue providing some traditional dealer services in-house," Mr Miles said.

"We have talked to a lot of advisers in the past who have wanted to join Fortnum but haven't been able to take the leap for a variety of reasons. At the same time, we haven't wanted to walk away from discussions with them either so this new deal will potentially allow us to partner with advisers who have different needs and objectives."

The proposed entity would be 50 per cent owned by Fortnum and 50 per cent owned by FPSA's member firms.

The merger would see 34 Fortnum practices and 93 advisers join with 20 Netwealth practices and 37 advisers.

At the end of July Fortnum announced that it was restructuring its financial planning subsidiary Fortnum Financial Advisers, with Mr Miles to step back from the day-to-day running of the advice arm.

As a result, the group has internally promoted national sales manager Joel Taylor to the newly-created role of managing director of Fortnum Financial Advisers.