AVALONFS was founded in 2013 and is privately owned. Our highly experienced financial services executives have direct financial planning experience and excellent reputations for their ethical conduct and commercial success.
- We respect the value of the work done by ethical and competent financial advisers and seek out those possessing these attributes.
- We insist on the client's interests coming first, on effective management of client risk and on impeccable ethical and compliance standards.
- We provide services to our advisers for flat fees and do not accept financial incentives that would influence product choice.
CEO / Director
In 2013 Neal co-founded AVALONFS to provide licensing services to industry professionals that embrace the Best Interest Duty of the FoFa legislation in the practice of the provision of financial advice.
With Experience in Financial Services which spans over 30 years Neal is a recognised specialist in funds management, hedge funds, risk and compliance frameworks. He has written articles on funds compliance and risk management and was asked by Bloomberg to contribute to their Hedge Funds Manual. On these subjects he has lectured at the Governance and Risk Institute.
Neal began his career as an adviser in AMP’s management program and quickly
advanced to Westpac’s Regional Sales Manager for the North Coast. He then joined IFMA as their Superannuation and Investment Technical Specialist responsible for QLD, NSW and ACT. In 1992 he launched Great Pacific Investments, a financial planning firm. Neal later moved to RACV Life where he was in the start-up management team, progressing to CEO the same year.
Since then Neal has held senior positions in HIH Winterthur, TOWER Australia, Challenger, Minter Ellison and CBA, and has consulted to both private and public companies including the Council of Financial Regulators (Federal Treasury, RBA, APRA and ASIC).
Neal holds an MBA (USQ), Diploma Financial Services (FP) (Quantum), and is a PRINCE II Certified Project Manager (UTS).
Head of Education / Director
John Prowse commenced in the Financial Services Industry in 1983 as an adviser with AMP, but he was quickly promoted through management roles in Sales, Marketing, Strategic Planning and Change Management. His last position with AMP was Head of Training.
Following executive roles in operations and adviser support with Sovereign Assurance and Legal & General, John became General Manager of Integratec/Tribeca Ltd, a listed training provider which continues to operate today under the Kaplan brand. John is a director of AVALONFS.
Director
Stephen is a qualified accountant with over 30 years experience in domestic and offshore financial markets.
Stephen’s experience has been obtained in senior roles, the more recent being risk and advisory positions with Australia’s largest fund manager. Stephen’s experience has covered listed and unlisted property and infrastructure, traditional assets, asset funding and derivatives, product development, regulatory reform and reporting.
Stephen’s other skills include financial management and reporting, operations, internal control, project management, strategic analysis and planning.
Stephen provides an analytical perspective to the problem solving process and his ability to think creatively to achieve practical solutions facilitates meeting stakeholder requirements.
Head Of Operations / Company Secretary
Diana began her career in the Financial Services Industry in 2000 working in a boutique Financial Planning Practice.
Following this she worked at ING in the Underwriting Department before moving on to various technical and management roles.
From 2011 to 2014 Diana worked at PATRON Financial Advice in the Operations Department.
She started as Operations Administrator and in 2013 Diana was promoted to Operations Manager and sat on the Senior Management Team.
Diana has been with AVALONFS since August 2014 and is Head of Operations.
Alvin Narayan
Head Of Compliance
Alvin joined AVALON in December 2020 with experience spanning over 15 years. He is a seasoned professional in managing staff, providing adviser support and AFSL compliance.
Alvin began his professional career within the financial service industry with experience in credit & lending which started in the United States selling sub-prime mortgages prior to the GFC. In 2006 he returned to Australia to work for Loan Services Australia then moved to Perpetual within the Corporate Trustee division.
Since 2011 his experience is heavily involved within financial planning, AFSL compliance, paraplanning and running his own paraplanning business.
From 2011 to 2016 Alvin worked at PATRON
Financial Advice as the paraplanning team leader reporting directly to senior management.
He was then promoted to the Compliance Officer role where he conducted updating
compliance frameworks, assisting in the transition from Reasonable basis to Best
Interest Duty and establishing a Risk framework for the AFSL.
From 2016 to 2020 Alvin held Senior positions at BT Financial Group as a
Compliance Manager where he reviewed conduct and advice provided by high risk advisers.
Promoted to the Investigations Manager, he managed high risk advisers code of conduct from a regulatory and risk
perspective within Westpac/ BT Financial Group. As an Investigations Manager the
responsibilities were overlooking adviser
behaviour’s, ethics and regulatory breaches which were reportable to ASIC.
He then moved on to manage a high performing team of analysts for AML/CTF at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
Alvin holds a Diploma Financial Planning (FP), Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning, SMSF Certification.
Gary Levitt
Regional Manager – VIC
A passionate, engaging and highly experienced Financial Services executive, with over 25 years experience in the industry. Over the course of his career Gary has served as a financial planner as well as being involved in start up Financial Planning organisations, providing management, leadership and cultural development to new teams and businesses.
In 2007 he joined forces with a well known investment manager to establish their own dealer group, operating under
their own license for the purpose of providing succession planning for financial planning practices.
For a period of time Gary was a regular media commentator with a leading Melbourne radio station, presenting at
times two shows a week in regards to financial planning, as well as being the go to commentator on topical issues.
He holds an Advanced Diploma of Financial Planning and Cert.IV Training & Assessment. He has a strong technical knowledge that is constantly applied to his work as well as being a proven leader and coach/mentor to others.
Brendan Dickson
Responsible Manager
Brendan has over 20 years experience in financial markets encompassing roles in Direct Equities and Equity Derivatives, Funds Management and Foreign Exchange. His career began in foreign exchange with Firms such as Deutsche Bank, Macquarie Bank finishing with Deutsche Bank in London.
In 2000 Brendan made a decision to become a private client investment adviser with Ord Minnett Limited and Challenger First Pacific.
Brendan’s front office asset management experience began in 2008 as a portfolio manager and analyst. During his tenure
as portfolio manager and member of varied investment committees, Brendan specialised in providing varied investment strategies with a focus on producing Alpha on client portfolios. He founded Mawson Investment Management in 2010 and is a
portfolio manager and CEO. Brendan also assisted in establishing AVALONFS in 2013 as a Responsible Manager.
Brendan holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Canberra and is an Australian Stock Exchange Accredited Derivatives Adviser Level 1 and 2.
Amy Williams
Operations Administrator
Joining AVALONFS in 2016 Amy brings with her over 15 years experience in Administration and Operations, spending the past 10 years in the Recruitment industry.
Most recently, Amy has worked as an Executive Assistant in a Boutique Finance
and Accounting Recruitment Agency. In this role she not only worked with the Founding Director of the business dealing with CFO’s of some of Australia’s leading companies, she also worked closely with the CEO in the day to day Operations and Administration of the business.
Our licensing fee is payable monthly and includes:
- Technical / Compliance Support
- Professional Indemnity Insurance
- Revex Commission Software
- KAPLAN CPD program
Remuneration Payments
Remuneration earned is paid to you weekly through Revex web-based software. The cost of this service is included in the Licensing Fee.
This software tool provides you with safe storage for your RCTI and commission statements, extensive client reporting and client management, and the ability to generate invoices straight to your clients.
Professional Development
Kaplan Ontrack from allows each adviser to maintain professional development standards without leaving their office. It is a complete CPD compliance solution delivered through online training. The cost is included in your Licensing Fee and your development is monitored by our compliance area. As quality advice and compliance are the keys to our business, we place great importance on supporting our advisers’ professional development.
In addition to the Kaplan Ontrack CPD program, AVALONFS also holds a minimum four days of Professional Development sessions. These are spread over the year with two or more being held at our Annual Conference.
Additional Services
Remuneration earned is paid to you weekly through Revex web-based software. The cost of this service is included in the Licensing Fee.
The Responsible Managers of AVALONFS have a combined experience of over 50 years in Funds Management, Life Insurance and Compliance and are available for any Technical and Compliance support required. Paraplanning services and administration support is also available for an additional fee.
Talk to us today about authorising your financial services business with AVALONFS.
Our Partners
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Use the form to contact us and one of our friendly staff will respond promptly.
Reach us through
-
Suite 12, 5-7 Ross Street
Parramatta NSW 2150 - 1800 681 438
- admin@avalonfs.com.au
