Executive director and chief executive, David Newman, confirmed the news in a statement released on Tuesday, saying the dealer group has been in discussions over the past 12-18 months with other licensees that may be keen to enter a partnership.
“We see the future of the licensee model as being a flexible service provider engaging with new technology, enhanced practice management capability as well as facilitating succession pathways for those businesses seeking to exit the industry,” the statement read.
“In other words, we want to provide options for our advisers no matter where they are within their business cycle.
“Whilst always open minded to these discussions we have remained steadfast in our resolve that the firms and advisers we support, our staff and shareholders must all benefit from any engagement Sentry may pursue.”
Mr Newman confirmed that existing Sentry shareholders will emerge as shareholders in WTL, while he will stay on as managing director of Sentry and take on a “broader role of joint-chief operating officer of the WTL group”.
Fellow Sentry director Michael Harrison will also join the WTL board as a non-executive director.
“We will continue to operate both the Sentry and Wealth Today B2B brands,” Mr Newman said.
“While essentially Wealth Today and Sentry provide the same suite of licensing solutions, what has excited us all in this opportunity is that each entity has restructured over recent years perfecting different aspects of a licensee’s offering.
“The WTL team has placed significant emphasis on perfecting its compliance and risk-mitigation processes through development of a series of proactive processes that are forward-looking and very focused on the commercial viability of practices while also mitigating unnecessary risks. We know that an enhancement of this aspect of our engagement will be very positive.
“We will also be able to offer all our practices access to one of Australia’s most comprehensive library of financial literacy publications, with more than 100 titles across a broad range of topics, and tailored adviser training and workshops delivered twice-weekly via live video-link.
“These resources provide advice practices with significant client engagement and client recruitment tools, and the support required to navigate continued regulatory change.
“This engagement provides Sentry with the opportunity to continue to transform itself into a significant and highly respected National independent Licensee staying true to our unequivocal commitment to be free from conflict and institutional influence.
“This transaction marks a significant milestone for Sentry and is representative of our genuine commitment to our Adviser network and will result in us being able to deliver a stronger and broader suite of services and solutions.”
The transaction will formally take effect on 16 July.
These mergers do not help the ARs they help the owners/ shareholders & allow them exits with money……what does the AR get …….nothing
How many times has Sentry been sold and then sold again?
Zero – Sentry has never been sold before
Liquidity for the shareholders / directors of Sentry.
Much easier to sell the stock on market.
Wealth Today AFSL owner has a serious conflict of Interests with his employee advice group and having advisers as AR’s. And boarded DOVER advisers when it sank as well.
[b]Every[/b] dealer group that has more than about 10 advisers has conflicts of interest. They all have inhouse products, and the reason the dealer group exists is to distribute those products. Inhouse products include SMAs, white labelled platforms, and SMSF administration services (the favoured inhouse product of Dover, Dixons, and most accountants).
Great points but there are dealer groups that have none of these. Even those are still conflicted for other reasons – they can dictate expensive measures to advisers who have to comply and pay.
Not [b]Every[/b] dealer group. Research a bit harder.
Do you have any examples of a dealer group with more than 10 ARs that doesn’t have any form of inhouse or aligned
– funds
– platforms
– white labels
– product rebates
– SMAs
– SMSF admin service
YES…..Lionsgate Financial Group. Look at their offering / website. It is fixed fee AR model. No product, no volume or marketing incentives, no SMA’s or SMSF admin services. That’s just one that’s out there. I know because I’m licensed to them and have been for about 10 years. Yes, before the Royal Commission. I wouldn’t sign up with a AFSL that had that underlying conflict. I’ve been there before and wouldn’t go back. Instead of tarring everyone with the same brush, perhaps you should do a bit more research.
So these advisers have to meet their own professional costs and business costs, the costs of the licensee and now the cost of shareholders. When do they make their money? This industry is full of ticket clippers, its ridiculous.
Congratulations and well done on this, hopefully continues on very successfully.
Must admit, when I read statements about “perfecting compliance and risk-mitigation processes / forward-looking proactive processes focused on commercial viability of practices” part of me says ‘yep, unless a corrupt ASIC want to make an example of you like Dover”.
Very interesting. More adviser groups getting bigger but also painting a target on their back.