Insignia advice chief promoted

The financial services group will tip all of its self-employed licensees into a single vehicle to be owned by the advisers under an equity agreement.

This transformation of Insignia Financial's advice business will see a new role for the group's chief of advice Darren Whereat.

The new business - Advice Services Co - will represent about $21 billion of Insignia's $24 billion in advice funds under management, with the change to impact about 680 financial advisers.

Insignia will initially hold a majority stake in ASC which will reduce over time as advisers receive equity in ASC.

Whereat has been appointed chief executive of the new firm, which will comprise RI Advice Group, Consultum Financial Advisers, and TenFifty.

He was previously chief executive of RI Advice Group but later was appointed general manager of Aligned Dealer Groups & Advice Standards at ANZ.

In that role, Whereat led the three aligned dealer groups within Wealth Australia - RI Advice Group, Financial Services Partners and Millennium3.

Earlier, he was head of key accounts and dealer services at BT Financial Group, head of distribution at Asgard and national manager of business solutions at MLC.

Insignia chief executive, Renato Mota, said: "This is a transformational initiative for our advice offering and will accelerate the return to profitability of our advice business while ensuring our advice services model is positioned for growth as the financial advice industry continues to evolve."

Mona added that the new partnership will allow Insignia to focus on the growth of its professional services advice business and advice in superannuation.

"It also provides Insignia Financial with greater opportunity to focus on the growth of its professional services advice business, Shadforth Financial Group and Bridges Financial Services, expanding the scope of advice through superannuation and the development of new technology-enabled advice delivery to leverage future opportunities presented by the government's response to the Quality of Advice Review."

The ownership of Godfrey Pembroke Group will likely go back to Godfrey Pembroke advisers, with Insignia retaining a minority stake .

Insignia is understood to be talks to sell Millenium3.