Sequoia appoints financial planning head

Industry Veteran Phil Osborne will head up Sequoia Financial Group's licensee, Libertas Financial Planning.

Osborne will support advisers across Sequoia's licensees following his resignation from Synchron in June - where he ran compliance - and with Libertas' founder Mark Euvrard spending less time in the business.

Specifically, he will focus on how licensees can adapt to legislative changes and increase the level of services required to support adviser practices.

Commenting on his appointment, Osbourne said he looks forward to continuing the culture that its founder Mark Euvrard commenced and transitioned to the ASX-listed Sequoia in 2020.

"As we grow and develop this licensee within the broader group, I'm also keen to build a sense of community between advisers of all of the Sequoia-owned licensees," explained Osbourn, who spent only five months at Synchron.

"Adviser health and wellbeing is something we need to keep in mind as we talk about business to consumer industry. Behind each advice, business is a person- the adviser - and we need to interact with respect, and integrity and support each business with the person in mind."

Sequoia managing director Garry Crole said Osbourne will also chair the Investment Committees of the group's AFS licensees.

This extends to compliance proficiency and assisting the development of support services to self-licensed practices while adding tools and expertise for Libertas licence operations.

With such an appointment, you're always hoping to find someone who understands the group, and how it operates, Crole went on to say.

"Phil's previous association with Interprac as the initial national practice manager, before moving to the NTAA and helping establish the SMSF Advisers Network AFSL, sees him come to Sequoia with a good feel already for our business," he added.

"Knowing the quality of Phil's work and premium knowledge set from our earlier collaboration, we're delighted to have him back and have Sequoia benefit from those skills and knowledge, as well as sharing in the attributes as a pro-advice spokesperson he has developed since then."