Niche NZ financial services firm, Dynamique, is to exit the training and continuing professional development (CPD) market amid declining profitability in the sector.
In a note to clients, Dynamique director, Guy Dobson, said the firm was looking to sell its CPD and financial training assets built up over more than 20 years operating in the UK and NZ.
“We are now focusing on investment performance technology IT sales teaming up with a leading US tech house, forex trading systems and an investment in a NZ based film production company for production and screenplay,” Dobson says.
Dynamique is the NZ distributor for the US-headquartered investment management reporting software firm, Confluence Technologies, which counts AMP and MMC (now Apex) as clients here.
Confluence has decided “to ramp up their sales and marketing activities in NZ which Dynamique is now spearheading”, according to Dobson.
He said the firm recently partnered with Havelock North-based currency trading systems provider, Te Mata Software, while also embarking on a film production venture to dramatise the fate of the SS Waratah – an Australian steamship that disappeared off the coast of South Africa in 1909.
But, after recently ending a compliance business partnership under the Maxima and VeritasHQ brands, Dyamique has primarily focused on the wholesale financial education and CPD market, which has faced pressure with the shift to online learning.
“We decided to get out of training and put our portfolio of courses on the market due to the declining profitability of CPD. Many training firms do not pay or pay little for content which means proper quality is compromised,” Dobson said.
“E-learning has become a commoditised business often based on volumes to make the business proposition work… higher value customised content essential for many firms is compromised.”
Nonetheless, he said the Dynamique financial training resources would prove attractive to firms looking to establish or grow their presence in NZ and the UK.
“The sale of the portfolio may take several months with the probable buyer being outside NZ,” he said.
In NZ the financial advisory sector CPD market is dominated by Strategi, although Australian provider, Kaplan, recently stepped up the competition this side of the Tasman with a new online offer released in August.