The franchising industry may seem worlds apart from financial planning but Commonwealth Bank has found a way to tap into the franchising model to better serve the banking needs of dealer groups.

Last October, Commonwealth Bank launched a specialist banking division, Financial Planning Banking, that specifically caters to the lending needs of dealer groups.

The group did nine months of research to come up with a lending model that suits planners and, more importantly, used the lending template the bank has applied when lending to the franchisees of KFC, Gloria Jeans and McDonald's.

"There are many similarities between the way these franchisees work and of course, lots of differences too. But from the experiences we've had in franchising, we're able to adopt that [successful model] to financial planning and we're able to do that because of the knowledge the bank has got in financial planning across the group such as at CFS, CommInsure for example," said Stewart Creighton, the head of the unit.

Creighton said the idea to set up a specialist planning unit was borne out of the trends the bank was seeing in the planning industry.

"A lot of older planners are now looking to retire in the next few years so for us that offers a lot of opportunities. There will be a lot of consolidation and a lot of acquisitions happening," he said.

But to fund growth and acquisitions, dealer groups need additional funding, and that's when CBA's banking unit for planners comes in.

Creighton said that unlike other lenders that could only lend around 1.7 to 2.5 times multiple of a planning practice's recurring revenue, the bank could lend up to 100 per cent or 2.5 to 3.5 times recurring revenue.

The catch is that a dealer group that wants access to a higher gearing amount has to pass the bank's ‘accreditation' test. "We can help dealer groups grow their business much faster but we would look at their compliance structure, admin support, approved product lists, marketing, all of that are reviewed as part of the accreditation," said Creighton.

To date, 10 dealer groups have signed up, including CBA-owned Financial Wisdom, and several more in the process of getting accreditation. "Given the success we've had, we've actually had to put a freeze on accrediting any more dealer groups," said Creighton.