Clime eyes ‘business reset’ amid expected losses

At the business’s annual general meeting, chairman John Abernethy said that Clime’s private wealth offer is “undergoing a business reset” to transfer the majority of its advised or managed business to an SMA solution with a “compatible client administrative solution”.

“A better solution for clients with better access to information that allows for significant productivity improvements to occur in our business,” Mr Abernethy said.

“We have undertaken a trial of this business reset in our Queensland joint venture and have generated strong returns in productivity that has in turn driven growth in that business. Clients are acknowledging the better solution with satisfaction levels rising and more funds being directed to the adviser.”

Mr Abernethy added that Clime has undertaken both “strategic reviews and discussions with the Madison adviser community as well engaging with meaningful discussions with other small AFSLs aimed at achieving appropriate scale”.

At the same time, he noted that the industry is undergoing an outflow of advisers and “competition in the AFSL licensing by listed entities”.

“Many of these groups seem focused on aggressively accumulating advisers and practices without a real concern for the diseconomies of scale that will eventuate,” Mr Abernethy said.

“In our case, we acknowledge that Madison needs more scale, and our collective view (with the Madison Adviser Council) is that the AFSL should be more substantially owned and controlled by advisers.

“The benefit of this is that the advisers will determine the partners in their community; design and direct their service offerings across their community via appropriate collaboration plus achieve cost benefits through their dealer group which will attract advisers with aligned values.”

Another part of the reset includes transforming its MTIS service offering away from direct equities in favour of SMA solutions, which Clime said would create capacity for its advisers and allow them to have “more productive conversations with our existing clients and free up time to reach out to potential clients”.

Clime announced its acquisition of MTIS Wealth Management, a diversified wealth management, advisory and accounting/tax services business, in May 2022.

The $7 million acquisition was completed on 1 July 2022, with Clime chief executive Annick Donat commenting that the deal “fits into Clime’s strategy to create wealth for our clients, supported by high-quality advice”.

“This transaction expands our private wealth presence in Melbourne’s CBD and creates new market opportunities for the group. We are delighted to have the MTIS team become part of the Clime family and look forward to a successful future together,” Ms Donat said at the time.