Privately owned dealer group recruits Brisbane practice

In a statement released on Wednesday, Count Financial said it had recruited Affinitas Financial Planning as its newest corporate authorised representative.

Affinitas Financial Planning managing director Brad Peters said the group had chosen Count as its new licensee after a comprehensive process that involved interviewing around 14 dealer groups.

“No one moves licensees for fun – but post Hayne royal commission, this was very much a decision about the future of our business and the broader financial planning industry,” Mr Peters said.

“Count’s size, compliance focus and overall support offering, plus the strength of being backed by the CountPlus listed entity, were all definitely factors in our final choice of licensee.”

Affinitas Financial Planning is part of the wider Affinitas group that provides individual and small business clients with accounting and tax services as well as financial advice, with about 400 of the group’s total 1,400 clients receiving financial planning services.

Mr Peters said Count’s history in specialising with accounting-focused advice businesses had also played a role in the decision to switch licensees.

Count Financial chief advice officer Andrew Kennedy said the group had a “busy agenda of new initiatives” to roll out and was proud of what it had achieved since ownership of the group had transferred from the Commonwealth Bank to CountPlus.

“We not only enable our advisers to focus on providing more valuable services to clients, but we are a quality licensee and partner for firms in these times of unprecedented change,” Mr Kennedy said.

“Being able to secure a business like Affinitas as our newest member firm illustrates the appeal of working with a licensee that is driven from the top by people who know the power and value of financial planning.”