Banks still positioning on HNW advice

Yet another bank has confirmed the manner in which it is keeping and expanding a strategic stake in financial planning but with a strong strategic eye on the high net worths.

National Australia Bank (NAB) which reported its full-year results last week and sold most of its conventional financial planning business to Insignia (IOOF) revealed in its investor briefing that it had pushed into an “integrated high net worth offering”.

While at the consumer end of its business, NAB was telling investors that it was focusing on an increasingly digital offering, at the high net worth end of the market it revealed the manner in which it had brought together its Private Bank, stockbroking and advice business JBWere and nabtrade.

The bank said it was seeking to drive a closer alignment between the businesses which focus on HNWs.

It said this included “colocation of private bankers and wealth advisers with specialised business banking teams and [a] cross business referral model.

As well, it references its dedicated credit team and “tailored HNW credit policies delivering improved turnaround times”.

Recent WealthData analysis of the Financial Adviser Register (FAR) confirmed that while all the banks exited their conventional financial planning businesses, all of them have retained people registered on the FAR with NAB having by far the largest numbers.

The analysis reveals that JBWere has 174 people listed on the FAR while NAB itself has 95.

By comparison, ANZ and the Commonwealth Bank have just 35 and 25 people respectively.