I’m a partner, specifically in our wealth management division. That involves me consulting with individuals and families about how they build their wealth, manage their wealth and utilise it to the best effect, and also how they pass it on to the next generation. We have 21 partners in the firm and about 200 staff. We’ve got well over a billion dollars in client assets under advice, supported by a team of really good, young professionals in the wealth division servicing our clients.
When we first started the wealth business 25 years ago, they had this thing called a wrap account, and it was early days for wrap accounts back then. Fortunately, I was just smart enough to realise, if we weren’t good at it, outsource it. So, the very first client we signed up, we put their portfolio onto BT Wrap, and I’m very pleased to say that client is still a client today.
When BT started talking about upgrading that system to what we know today as BT Panorama, I was asked to be involved in some early focus groups around what that new platform should be able to do. One of the things I was very keen on was that the reporting be very good, and now I can see today that BT Panorama reporting is magnificent. The client reporting is just so logical and illuminating for clients to get their head around what the portfolios are doing. That’s powerful.
We’ve always worked closely with BT, it’s been an important relationship for us, and they’ve always been interested in the way we do things and understanding what’s important and not important to us. And BT Panorama ticks all those boxes. For us, it’s a good way of leveraging our business and being able to scale and build it up.
Our relationship manager, over the years, they’ve been able to introduce us to things that we wouldn’t otherwise know about. For example, recently we’ve been introduced to Managed Discretionary Accounts, and that piqued my interest. That’s something we’re now working on implementing with our client portfolios.
“We’ve always worked closely with BT, it’s been an important relationship for us, and they’ve always been interested in the way we do things and understanding what’s important and not important to us.”
The fact that we’re not spending all our time managing accounting for investment portfolios, which you could easily spend all day doing, but we’re not. It allows us to be really focused on the portfolio advice that we give. It’s the other things as well. It’s the building of wealth, the protecting of it, the estate planning, so absolutely using BT Panorama assists with allowing us to do the bits we’re good at.
One of the things I’ve been proud about with the business over the years is at the start, wealth management was just a tack-on service to the other things we were doing with client advice, but over time it’s become much more than a tack-on, it’s become an integral part of the way we do business and the way we service our clients. Really to the extent now, the wealth division is driving the firm’s strategy around dealing with individuals and families.
The rewarding side is seeing people’s financial situation come to fruition with them achieving financial independence and living the life they want to lead. On the business side, it’s also really rewarding seeing people starting from school or university and coming through the firm, coming through the division, becoming very good at what they do, and becoming really great advisers.
We have a strong, caring team dedicated to our clients, and we’re focused on significant growth. To achieve this, we’re implementing managed discretionary accounts across our portfolios, enhancing efficiency and service quality. With increasing demand particularly due to the intergenerational transfer of wealth, we’re finding there’s a big market for that and with the services we provide, we can play a big role.
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From accounting to planning: We talk to Tess Uncle about her journey into financial advice and how BT Panorama is helping Wybenga Financial deliver a different kind of planning.
Information current as at August 2024.
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This information has been prepared by BT Portfolio Services Limited ABN 73 095 055 208 AFSL 233715 (BTPS), the operator of Panorama Investments; and BT Funds Management Limited ABN 63 002 916 458 AFSL 233724 (BTFM) the trustee of Panorama Super, which is part of Asgard Independence Plan Division Two ABN 90 194 410 365. Westpac Financial Services Ltd ABN 20 000 241 127 AFSL 233716 (WFSL) is the responsible entity and issuer of interests in BT Managed Portfolios. BTPS operates Panorama Investments. Westpac Banking Corporation ABN 33 007 457 141 AFSL and Australian credit licence 233714 (Westpac) is the issuer of the BT Cash Management Account (BT CMA) and the BT Cash Management Account Saver (BT CMA Saver). Together, these products are referred to as the Panorama products. A Product Disclosure Statement or other disclosure document (PDS) and target market determination (TMD) for the Panorama products can be obtained by contacting BT on 1300 784 207 or by visiting bt.com.au. A person should obtain and consider the PDS and TMD before deciding whether to acquire, continue to hold or dispose of interests in the Panorama products.