WealthO2 recruits five staff

WealthO2 has announced a series of new hires in response to the growing demand for adviser tech software solutions.

The software and service solution provider has appointed Justin Ahrens head of risk.

Ahrens joins from BT Financial Group where he was senior manager, business controls and monitoring, platforms, and investments.

He spent six years at Westpac in a variety of other senior roles including as senior manager of sales practice remediation, manager of risk analytics and insights, and manager of customer quality assurance at the lender's wholly-owned subsidiary, RAMS.

Until 2014, he lived in Canada working at CIBC and TD Wealth.

Kate Hurst will take on the role of program delivery manager. She has completed several high-profile project management contracts, most recently at Westpac and Citi.

Wealth02 has also bolstered its distribution team with the appointments of Peter Panigiris and Dennis Cargill.

Panigiris joins from Lumiant and previously, Midwinter, and Cargill joins after 14 years at BT Financial Group.

Finally, John Shea has also come on board as a solutions architect.

Wealth02 chief executive Andrew Whelan said the cross-functional appointments will play a pivotal role in cementing the firm's position as the first advice technology solutions company aimed at solving critical business issues across the end-to-end adviser experience.

"The fact that these key hires are joining WealthO2 at this time is a significant nod to our recent growth, strategy, and what we are delivering," he said.

"Our clients and the broader team will all benefit from their knowledge and expertise."

"We are seeing so much demand from advisers that we are always on the lookout for quality people."

These appointments follow the recent merger of WealthO2, Roar, and NEO that saw WealthO2's team double in size.