Kepa and Financial Design Group strike strategic alliance

Partnership will see Kepa inject capital into Financial Design Group and take a 20% stake to assist growth Kepa, a New Zealand leader in the provision of financial advisor support services, announces it has struck a strategic alliance with the Albany-based Financial Design Group (FDG). The alliance is part of Kepa’s partnership programme, which is aimed at accelerating the growth of its members.

Kepa is providing capital to FDG to help Managing Director Mat Page and the other FDG Directors build on their company’s strong reputation for providing great insurance, mortgage and financial planning advice. Kepa’s Chairman David Johnstone will join the FDG board.

David Johnstone said: “Kepa’s investment in FDG, the second in a developing programme of partnerships between Kepa and its members, will allow Mat and the team to focus on what they do best: building relationships with clients and then helping them to manage their insurance, mortgage and financial planning needs.”

“Kepa succeeds when our members succeed. Through these partnerships we are helping strong and entrepreneurial advisory groups achieve their growth ambitions. The programme is leading to a sharing of financial advisory expertise and increasing collaboration across the Kepa network for the benefit of all our members and their clients.”

In October Kepa invested in the Takapuna-based Mortgage Lab, which has now begun locating its advisors in the offices of Kepa members that currently do not have a mortgage advisory practice. Mortgage Lab has also expanded its network to nine mortgage advisers across the country and is looking to double that number in the coming year.

David Johnstone added that FDG and Mortgage Lab, which were both Kepa members prior to the alliances, continue to use Kepa’s support services on an arms’-length basis, allowing them to deploy the solutions that most suit their business.

“The alliance with Mortgage Lab and now FDG are proving the great benefits of Kepa’s new partnership model. We are looking to further develop this opportunity with other advisory practices in the coming months,” Mr Johnstone said.

FDG’s Mat Page said the investment represented a tremendous opportunity to learn from Kepa, which has grown to become New Zealand’s largest advisor support services group.

“Since Kepa was established, we have benefitted from the use of its support services, including its customer relationship management, compliance, and business development tools, as well as leveraging its national brand.

“Now, thanks to this enhanced level of cooperation and the strategic advice provided by David and his team, we are already making good headway on our strategic objectives. We have added an FDG presence in Whangarei, Wellington and Christchurch and we are now targeting the recruitment of several other advisers through this year.”

Mat Page said the alliance would particularly assist FDG to expand its wealth management practice. Kepa’s Fit4License programme, for example, would significantly ease the administrative challenges associated with the Financial Services Legislation Amendment Bill now before Parliament.

The bill envisages the transfer of regulatory responsibility from individual advisers to new Financial Advice Providers. Through the Fit4License programme, Kepa will ensure that all its members meet these new regulatory requirements. Fit4License will also assist advisers and advisory practices who wish to be licensed in their own right.

“Kepa has been an integral part of FDG since we were established and this alliance will allow us to embark on a new phase of growth, coupled with a focus on good corporate governance,” Mat Page said.

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