MyState divests financial advice business for $3.5m

MyState Limited has revealed that it has entered into an agreement to sell its financial planning client book to Fiducian Group for approximately $3.5 million.

The financial planning business, which has more than $340 million in funds under advice, will add to Fiducian’s $2.7 billion portfolio.

MyState managing director and CEO Melos Sulicich said: “We believe its Tasmanian footprint and dedicated financial planning focus provide a great fit for our customers and staff. We look forward to working with Fiducian to ensure that the transition for our customers is smooth, simple and straightforward.”

The acquisition is expected to be complete before the start of the new financial year.

The Tasmanian bank said it expects the transaction to be “be broadly NPAT neutral for MyState in future years”.

Mr Sulicich said the sale is a “strategic move” that will allow the bank to “simplify” its business and “invest for growth in the areas where [it] can have a competitive advantage”.

“Through our Tasmanian Perpetual Trustees brand, we are building a simplified national and highly scalable wealth management business focused on managed funds and trustee services,” his statement for the ASX read.

MyState is the latest in a long line of lenders to divest their financial advice businesses, including the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, which last week announced the sale of its financial advisory business Count Financial for $2.5 million.

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank had announced in April that it entered into an arrangement to sell its financial advice business assets to IOOF subsidiary Bridges Finances Services for $3 million in cash, and in the previous month, Westpac revealed that it was selling its “high-cost, loss-making” personal financial advice business to Viridian Advisory.

[Related: CBA offloads advice business]