Posted on: Monday, March 5th, 2012

25 years in the financial services industry, with yet another raft of changes on the way, might seem like a life sentence for many people but it hasn’t been enough to deter one man from stepping back into the fray.

Robbie Bennetts, founder of Professional Investment Holdings Ltd (Professional Investment Services), is back in business and back doing what he knows best: working with financial planners and accountants on ways to better service their clients and increase the profitability of professional practices.

Building on the contacts and relationships established over those 25 years, Bennetts has started a new business with financial services and technology at its core. Robbie Bennetts Enterprises (RBE) is a collaboration of businesses each specialising in their own particular field:

• three dealer groups, including an ASX listed company
• a technology company specialising in office equipment, telecommunications, cloud technology and the application of social media to business marketing
• data storage solution for dealer groups
• a small business specialising in helping people in financial difficulty with loans or debt agreements, as well as personal loans, loans to small business, a budgeting tool and a bill paying service
• conference organisation and management
• personal and professional development; business and management coaching
• reward and loyalty card programs
• golf club management and renewal
• direct property investment in the USA

RBE is either partnering with established businesses or providing the services using the expertise of its own staff and associates. Cross-referral of business leads and cross-promotion of product and service offerings will be a key feature of the collaborative model.

“Over the last few months, I’ve seen first-hand the power and efficiencies that new technologies can bring to financial services businesses, and the power that social media bring to marketing strategies, especially for small businesses,” Bennetts said.

“Those technologies and media tools are at the core of the new business.

“Our objective is to bring innovative thinking and technology solutions to the traditional financial services business model, to deliver greater efficiencies and financial returns to the partners and owners.”

“In particular, for the planners and accountants we recruit, we’ll be introducing new revenue streams which are outside the scope of FoFA and AFS licencing.

“Even within the new rules of the game under FoFA, we’re looking to get greater leverage from the existing ‘back offices’ of financial planning practices. We see this as the key to boosting revenue from the staff and infrastructure that a planning practice already has in place.

“Interest among planners and accountants in what we’re putting together is already strong because the offer we have is either an alternative or an adjunct to what they’re already doing” Bennetts added.

Robbie Bennetts Enterprises is based on the Gold Coast and Bennetts has been joined by a number of staff and associates who have worked with him over the last 25 years.