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In the heart of Bundaberg, two teams are working together on a strategy to grow and secure their shared client’s financial future.
Their collaboration is fluid, their vision aligned. It’s hard to imagine a time when these two teams were completely separate entities.
The merger that brought them together in 2007 wasn’t a business transaction; it wasn’t the beginning of the relationship, either. It was a move that set an already blossoming partnership on the path to long-term success.
Of course, we’re talking about the story of Morgans and Ulton.
Prior to the merger, the Bundaberg Morgans branch had been supporting clients with stockbroking and other financial services for over 30 years.
It was 2003 when the present-day Morgans Branch Manager and Ulton Partner, Karl Brosnan, joined the Morgans Bundaberg team.
“I hadn’t lived in this area before and I didn’t really know many people. But Bundaberg isn’t a very big place so just through working in the same industry and moving in the same circles, I got to know some of the Ulton team. In particular, Peter Sawyer, Mark McLean, and Daryl Corpe,” said Karl.
In the years that followed, the relationship between Karl and the Ulton team grew. Some of the Ulton partners began personally engaging Karl for stockbroking services. Then, having experienced Karl’s capabilities firsthand, the Ulton team felt comfortable referring clients to him.
And the pendulum swung both ways – the more Karl worked with Ulton, the more comfortable he felt introducing his clients to us.
A testament to the trust between Karl and the Ulton team, in 2007 Karl became the owner-operator of the Morgans Bundaberg branch. Shortly after stepping into his new role, he engaged Ulton Partner Mark McLean as the firm’s external CFO.
Typically, we think of mergers as earth-shifting events that involve forcing two independent entities together to become one. We think of them as events laden with challenges, hiccups, and seemingly endless negotiations.
According to Mark, this couldn’t be further from the reality.
“We already had that long-standing relationship. We were already working so closely and with really similar clients. A merger just made sense for us,” said Mark.
“It was a merger in the true sense of the word. And it happened because we both saw all the benefits to be gained from sharing our businesses and clients – benefits for both of us,” he said.
For both parties, coming together opened new doors.
Partnering with Ulton has enabled Karl and the Morgans team to truly zero in on their zone of expertise.
“Being connected to Ulton means we have all the processes in place to support our staff and do what we do best. It means that we can truly focus on stockbroking because Ulton is taking care of all those other things behind the scenes,” said Karl.
And for Ulton, merging with Morgans has meant that the Ulton team could have complete confidence that their clients will be looked after with stockbroking services that truly put them first.
“With stockbrokers, there’s sometimes a bit of a fear that clients are going to be churned. I know that with the Morgans team, if there’s no trades to be done, they don’t do trades. The biggest concern with stockbroking in general is that brokers lose sight of the client and are more concerned about their own benefit from making deals. With the Morgans team, I know that isn’t the case,” said Mark.
“I have total confidence that when we hand a client over to Morgans, whether that client goes to Karl or anyone else in his team, I know that they are going to be looked after with complete professionalism and that their needs are going to come first,” he continued.
The relationship between Ulton and Morgans came about organically.
Neither party set out to enter business together. Rather, the merger was a byproduct of a long-term relationship built on trust and mutual respect.
This natural progression has carried through to the present-day client dynamics too.
“We both understand how important it is to be respectful of the relationship that exists between our client and their current stockbroker or accountant,” said Mark.
“For example, Karl has a client who he’s provided stockbroking services to for years. This client has an accountant outside Ulton, who we’ve always been very respectful of. I’ve known this client for over 10 years through having Karl as our mutual connection. Just recently, this client got in touch with me to discuss bringing his accounting work over to Ulton. That’s how long it can take to onboard the right type of client,” he said.
There’s thousands of reasons why the Morgans and Ulton partnership works so well, but when you boil it all down, it comes back to the core principle sitting at the heart of both businesses.
“Ulton and Morgans are like-minded in that we put our clients at the center of everything. It’s always about them,” said Mark.
“I think that’s what makes our partnership so successful,” he said.
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