Last week, ifa reported three former Westpac advisers now registered with Viridian Advisory are facing the bank in court for breach of contract.
Following that development, the latest ASIC data shows former Westpac adviser Virginia Tamborini, who was registered to give advice for the bank from April 2007 until January this year, has joined the firm.
Since its launch just under three years ago, Viridian Advisory has attracted 27 Westpac-aligned advisers, 18 of which were employed by Westpac Banking Corporation and another nine of which were licensed by the bank’s Magnitude dealer group.
Speaking to ifa, Viridian Advisory chief executive Glenn Calder (himself a former Westpac adviser) explained the business has close ties with the bank given its history.
“Viridian started around about two and a half years ago with about six senior advisers within the Westpac group, and some other staff – all up we probably had around about 20 staff – who came across,” he said.
“We reached a point where we’d been with Westpac around 10 or 15 years, it was probably time in our careers to make the next progression. We’ve also seen the industry change quite a bit and wanted to put our own stamp on it.”
Mr Calder also said that many of the advisers who have joined the business since then have done so for similar reasons.
“I think we differentiated ourselves in a couple of ways, like we’d prefer to be more innovative and open-minded about change and embracing change in a technological sense, and in the regulatory sense as well,” he said.
Mr Calder added that he is unable to comment on the court cases involving Westpac and the three Viridian advisers, noting it related to those advisers individually and not Viridian Advisory itself.
Wonder how long it will be before this adviser is taken to court by W
Wonder if ifa will get an update when every new adviser joins viridian. Sounds like a timely article straight after the court case by Mr Calder and straight dismal of the both 3 advisers being throw to the wolves. Can we find out how much BT product is written by viridian ifa? My bet is 100%.
is it not viridian by bt
I love how the ceo abandons the three in court “noting it related to those advisers individually and not Viridian Advisory itself” – like he is an innocent bystander – Hee Lair Ree Us
You feel the love. So much me me me.
Wow, way to pile on other Financial planners at the first chance possible. You said they had their own license, surely all businesses source referrals. What’s wrong with that?
I wonder if any of their clients are still Westpac Bank customers? Does the Viridian mortgage broker drive a Ferrari as well?
Does Vettel work for Viridian
The way Westpac is going it will be outsourcing its Advice business to Viridian.
What advice business?
Viridian has its own licence which is true, but the relationship with Westpac couldn’t be any closer. Is it really a career progression? All the advisers are from Westpac and they deal with Westpac products.
They are simply a mini W. Did Viridian just do a deal with BT Wrap i wonder?
Well said. The move is simply career progression