Tim Fairbrother, founder of Rival Wealth, has expanded into Auckland with the purchase of Employee Benefits Consulting.

The business will initially be run out of Rival’s Masterton headquarters but an Auckland-based staff member is likely to be appointed within the next year.

Fairbrother said the business was busy, particularly on the investment side. It had done as much business in the past three or four months as would normally be expected in a year, he said.

He said Rival had reached a stage where it needed to grow. With 17 staff, it was no longer a “two-person band” but needed to ensure it had the scale to stay relevant.

But he said there were increasing opportunities to grow as other advisers realised that the new, licensed environment would not be a good fit for them.

Licensing begins in March next year.

Fairbrother said many advisers were still waiting to see what full licensing would bring before making a decision on what was ahead.

Rival already holds a DIMS licence, which he said gave the business a good idea of what was involved.

“It is a lot of work.”

Advisers could end up spending two or three hours a week on compliance and then two or three hours a week on marketing, he said. “That’s a fifth of the week gone, a day spent on things that are not their core competency.”

He said Rival did not aspire to be the biggest in the business but intended to continue to grow while still focusing on offering a personalised service to clients.