Macquarie reshuffles wealth leadership
Two of Macquarie Private Wealth's most senior executives are leaving the bank as wealth division is about to see a few changes at the top.
Head of wealth management Bill Marynissen and head of wealth advisory Rob Johnston are "retiring" from the firm according to a group-wide announcement on Friday, first revealed by Street Talk.
From April 1, Macquarie head of wealth product and technology Cameron Garrett will head up the firm's wealth intermediary. Marynissen, who is the sixth-longest servicing employee at Macquarie, will be replaced by executive director Sean West.
Garrett will ultimately be responsible for the firm's relationships with about 7000 financial advisers who use Macquarie wealth products, including its wrap platform, cash management accounts and managed accounts offerings.
Macquarie's deputy managing director and head of financial services Greg Ward told staff that Marynissen's career was "a shining example of personal and professional growth."
"Under his leadership, the advice business has been through an enormous culture shift and is now combining with our private bank to focus on Australia's high net worth individuals, with a goal of being the leading private bank in Australia," Ward said.
"The wealth third party team has expanded and deepened our relationships with intermediaries, built new partnerships with institutions including ANZ, and more than tripled our platforms business. Bill has built a sustainable business we can all be proud of."
The departures follow Macquarie's shift in gear last year to merge its private bank and private wealth businesses and focus exclusively on wealthier clients after the Hayne royal commission revealed industry-wide troubles in the retail advice sector.
Under the new rules, new and existing clients must have at least A$1m to invest or bring in A$10,000 in revenue every year.
The news prompted a "mass exodus" of Macquarie's private wealth advisers to other firms, with more than 20 advisers leaving before Christmas to join rival firms in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Canberra.
Macquarie Private Wealth now has less than 200 advisers, a far cry from the 400 it had a decade ago.
Sources said in the first week after gardening leave for the departed advisers, 1700 family clients had left Macquarie, 500 of whom were considered highly desirable for the bank.
Macquarie is also restructuring its operations. Canberra-based clients will now be serviced from Sydney, effectively signalling its retreat from the nation's capital. The broker also outlined an internal restructure, announcing plans to replace assistant state leaders with team leaders and "better aligning" support staff to its advisers.
Macquarie's private wealth division has previously been subject to a two-year enforceable undertaking after the corporate regulator accused Macquarie of misclassifying clients, sloppy paperwork and rampant cheating on continuous professional development exams.
The undertaking came to an end in 2015.
