Financial planning firm Centaur Financial Services has moved to its own AFSL and made a key hire in theprocess.
Since 2015, Centaur has operated under a co-op licence with RFS Advice, Evalesco, and Guide Financial to reduce costs. However, Centaur chief executive and FS Power50 adviser Hugh Robertson told Financial Standard the firm ultimatelywanted to control its own destiny, be ambitious, and go for growth.
“We know it’s not easier. We didn’t choose an easy option; we chose the best option,” Robertson said.
“You don’t go into an AFSL thinking there’s less compliance – it’s more – but we think we can impact greater changecontrolling it.”
With all the headwinds the advice industry has faced over the last decade, Robertson said it’s been easy to get boggeddown in compliance, regulation, staffing, and the demands of being an investment guru. Even so, he remains optimisticabout the profession’s future, “doubling down” on investing in his firm’s people, capability, and infrastructure.
The goal is to evolve from a traditional small business that’s reactive to one with a structure that enables it to be “morestrategic and proactive in setting priorities” – that will have the greatest impact on client experience and outcomes to”allow us to execute at speed.”
“We want to have corporate expertise but not forget where we camefrom – not forgetting the client. The greatest risk for businesses as they grow is starting to think about acquisitions orcompliance and getting away from the one thing you came into the industry to do, which is help people,” he said.
In finding this balance – running a tight ship on governance without losing sight of the client – Centaur has appointedformer GPS Wealth head Tara Ross as chief operations officer.
GPS Wealth, an AFSL with around 120 advisers and a niche for helping those that are growth-focused, had Ross thelicence for the last few years.
But with nearly 17 years’ experience in practice development roles, including at Wilsons Advisory and Stockbroking, BTFinancial Group, and Centrepoint Alliance, Ross said she felt that rising to more senior corporate roles meant less directimpact on day-to-day client outcomes.
“The time was right to step out of a corporate environment and get my hands dirty,” she said.
She added that the culture in the Centaur team is one of the things that attracted her.
“I’ve known Hugh for 15 years, and the team that him and Kelly [Doughty] – head of people and culture – have built iswhat makes it so special,” Ross said.
The challenge, however, will be to maintain that culture as the business grows, with Doughty playing a pivotal role.Equally important will be keeping operations and structures simple and transparent while “retaining the client at thecentre of everything we do,” she said.
Both Robertson and Ross said operational excellence – transforming systems and process, automation throughtechnology, and a more interactive and engaging client experience – will be the foundation of being ready to scaleeffectively.
They intend for Centaur to continue to grow organically and through acquisitions, particularly targeting smaller firmsstruggling to scale or that lack succession options.