International planning firm to open Auckland office

One of the big international financial planning firms is set to open an office in Auckland this month.

Monday, January 9th 2017, 6:00AM

UK-based deVere Group, which describes itself as, one of the world’s largest independent financial consultancies, will open an office on Auckland's North Shore with two AFAs and a general manager.

The move to New Zealand comes a year after deVere opened its second Australian office in Sydney. deVere New Zealand will be headed by John Brophy, Divisional Manager of the ASEAN and Australia regions.

Brophy says the group looked at buying an exisiting firm in New Zealand but decided to start from the ground up. He says they looked at a number of businesses, but decided buying one because most are owned and run by older people who may not stay with the firm for along time.

He says there will be two AFAs to begin with; Brett Wright and one other who will come from an existing business. At this stage he expects a current de Vere staffer in the Middle East to relocate to New Zealand to take up the general manager role.

Brophy says de Vere runs a graduate programme and would look to recruit young New Zealanders from university and put them though an 18-month programme to become financial advisers.

deVere Group founder and chief executive, Nigel Green, said opening an office in New Zealand has long been part of the group's strategic growth plans.

“Our push into New Zealand is driven by consistently increasing demand for our specialist cross-border financial advice from expats and international investors in this region”.

“To ensure that deVere becomes the most trusted independent financial advisory firm in the country and to meet the growing client demand, we will promote internally some of the company’s top managers from elsewhere in the world to roles within New Zealand, as well as recruiting more talented wealth managers to join our already internationally proven teams,” Green says.

Brophy says 270 of de Vere's clients are in New Zealand. Many of these will be former ex-pat Kiwis who have returned home.

He says there is "massive potential" in New Zealand and the country has "good regulations and is well-positioned for the future."

Globally, de Vere has more than 80,000 clients in 100 countries and US$12 billion under advice.

Brophy says by adding New Zealand to it network of global offices the business will be a "truly a 24-hour organisation. There will always be a deVere office open somewhere in the world”.

The Compliance Company has helped de Vere set up its Auckland office.

Tags: de Vere