WT Financial takes majority stake in TNT Advisor

WT Financial has acquired a 70% stake in paraplanning provider, TNT Advisor Solutions (TNT), for $2.4 million.

WT Financial managing director Keith Cullen said advice practices increasingly need access to scalable specialist capabilities, including high-quality outsourced services as an alternative to adding fixed internal resources.

"TNT is a very good example of our partnership philosophy in action and of the broader ecosystem of capabilities we intend to build around the advice practices we support," Cullen said.

WT Financial has over 500 advisers across a nation-wide network of privately-owned practices, operating as authorised representatives under Wealth Today, Sentry Advice, Synchron Advice, and Millennium3 subsidiaries.

Cullen added WT Financial expects demand for flexible outsourced paraplanning capacity to increase as advice practices seek to grow and scale their operations.

"For many years, parts of the paraplanning industry have been engaged in a race to the bottom on price, often accompanied by declining quality and increasing reliance on offshore document production," Cullen said.

"Emerging technologies are turning that model on its head and creating a race to the top - in quality, efficiency, responsiveness and turnaround times."

TNT's founders, Tamara Morey and Tanya Higgins, together with chief executive Dela Dzadey, will collectively retain 30% and remain actively involved in the business.

TNT will retain its identity while the partnership will provide it with additional resources to expand its experienced Australian paraplanner base, invest in technology and workflow capability, and support more advice practices as they scale.

"Our shared ambition is to support Dela, Tanya, Tamara and their team in building TNT into Australia's preeminent, genuinely world-class paraplanning service - combining exceptional people, exceptional technology and exceptional service," Cullen said.

TNT co-founder Tamara Morey said the partnership would allow TNT to pursue its growth ambitions while preserving the qualities that had underpinned its success.

"Tanya, Dela and I are incredibly proud of the business and team we have built, and it was very important to us that the next stage of TNT's growth built on those foundations," Morey said.

"Partnering with WTL provides access to additional capital, technology capability and a broader market, while allowing TNT to remain TNT - focused on our people, our clients and providing exceptional Australian-based paraplanning."

Morey added TNT's approach to technology would remain centred on enhancing the capability of experienced paraplanners rather than replacing them.

"We don't see technology replacing great paraplanners. We see it making great paraplanners even better. The real value of an experienced paraplanner is their technical knowledge, judgement and ability to understand an adviser's strategy and act as a genuine second chair," Morey said.

"As automation and AI remove more of the repetitive document production, formatting and checking work, our people can spend more time applying those higher-value skills - while delivering better quality, consistency and turnaround times for our clients."