Who is Peter Thompson?

I recently had the pleasure of catching up with Peter Thompson, Head of Advice Distribution at Hejaz Financial Advisers. He has been attending various conferences and workshops. I asked him for his impressions of what is happening. Peter remarked,

“In attending several CPD events as well as the AFA conference on the Gold Coast, it’s been evident that the financial planning industry is coming out the other side of a tough period. With the dust settled on Ms Levy’s Quality of Advice Review proposals paper, there is a sigh of relief that financial advisers will be able to see more clients, and particularly those who need it most, in a more efficient and scalable manner. More than ever, I have observed the camaraderie amongst my peers and the willingness for everyone to share ideas”.

Peter shared his thoughts on starting an AFSL.

“Starting the AFSL from a standing start comes with its good and bad points. On one hand, you have a clean canvas to create an AFSL without any legacy issues; on the other hand, there is a certain leap of faith from advisers who have made the commitment to join. In December 2021, we appointed our 1st external adviser which was a huge milestone. Since then, we’ve appointed a further 8 financial advisers.”

Peter remarked on the Advantages and Benefits of the Hejaz AFSL

HFA has made a concerted effort to be a licensee of choice by creating an eco-system for advisers to thrive. We provide advisers with the flexibility to curate their business model to suit their clients in the following ways:

  • Agnostic AFSL with a unique point of difference
    Aside from the expected dealer group services, Hejaz Financial Advisers can help our advisers by identifying a niche demographic of emerging affluent Muslims who call Australia home. Muslims who align closely with their faith are required to follow specific principals when investing their money- this provides a great opportunity for our advisers to learn more about how to engage with this thriving group of individuals.
  • Strategies and Goals based advice highly encouraged above products
    A strong attraction to our AFSL has been our advisers learning that strategies-based advice can be a powerful way to make a meaningful impact in a client’s lives. The traditional AFSL model has always relied upon a product first mentally. Instead, we encourage advisers to ensure that the client has a budget in place, has sufficient cash flow, is educated and kept up to date with the advice and how it impacts their life, as well as the consequences should certain recommendations or advice be undertaken. I explain to our advisers that simply saying “we recommend you see a solicitor for a will” isn’t doing enough- we help them connect to legal professionals who understand the primary relationship of the financial adviser and work closely with them and the client.
  • Software
    We are software agnostic, allowing advisers to maintain the software solutions they currently are using. HFA has Xplan Model Office in place and can extend this to our advisers, should they wish to use Xplan as their preferred provider. I am always looking for best of breed solutions to help advisers enhance their tech stack to improve their client experience and intern, their profitability.
  • APL
    An extensive APL of ASX 500 shares, managed funds and an extensive list of LICs and ETFs with any recommendations to be supported by research from a leading ratings house such as Morningstar, Lonsec, Zenith or SQM.
    Ethical, Sustainable and Governance (ESG) and Islamic Compliant options. All insurance providers as well as platforms and wraps Legacy products. We are also open to considering additional APL items upon the advisers demonstrating their research and methodology to support the request.
  • Hybrid Fee Structure
    HFA’s fees promote smaller practices to grow their businesses whilst not handicapping larger practices by over charging them.

Peter noted some new products on the Hejaz APL

Hejaz have just launched 2 ETFs- one is a diversified property fund and the other for global and local equities. In addition to our broad APL, we are excited to be able to add these as options for our advisers to consider for client’s who wish to invest in line with their beliefs.

Peter offered the following thoughts on moving AFSL’s.

I have been working for 10 years at licensee level and have helped hundreds of advisers with their decision to move to another AFSL. It’s never an easy decision to move licensees, however when they do, the team and I pride ourselves on being able to make that transition as easy as possible. An alignment of values is of utmost importance, and this helps set the tone when I commence discussions with prospective advisers.

And finally, Peter shared some of his 2023 plans for Hejaz

We’ve seen steady growth throughout 2022 and have set the foundations for an exciting 2023. As the adviser numbers continue to increase, we look forward to being able to deliver on further enhancements to make the lives of advisers easier. One initiative we are excited about are workshops on how to help advisers identify their niche such as faith base and ethical advice.

For a no obligation chat about the Hejaz opportunity please call Peter on 0401 181 388 or drop him a line at pthompson@hejazfs.com.au.