Australia’s Macquarie Private Wealth has responded to a new mood of caution among high net worth individuals with the appointment of a head of wealth protection.

Patrick Dieter, formerly national risk manager at financial planning group Hillross, has joined MPW to lead “the national development of Macquarie’s wealth protection business” in a newly created domestically-focused role.

“Wealth Protection advice is more than just an ‘insurance sale,’” Mr Dieter recently told WealthbriefingAsia.

“It encompasses a wide range of protection advice from personal advice, such as income protection, to group solutions for corporates to business continuation issues and Estate Equalisation requirements,” he said.

Mr Dieter confirmed that affluent Australians had begun to think more about wealth protection in the wake of the recent financial crisis which, according to the Boston Consulting Group, wiped out 27 per cent of Australia’s total retirement savings pool, or a loss of around A$160 billion in national wealth.

“Yes this is very much the case,” says Mr Dieter.

“The Australian marketplace is interesting as there was always a traditional belief that the worst will not happen, but the recent GFC has cast a different light on this view,” Mr Dieter said.

“People are beginning to realize that this may not be the case. As times change, people realise that they are exposed,” he said.

This year, he said, had been “one of the most active years” the wealth protection marketplace had seen “in terms of productions and inflows into these products.”

Mr Dieter said insurance products “have attracted something of a stigma” but said that wealth protection took the concept much further.

“These products are not just insurance products,” he said. “These products should be thought of as money that is available in the event of a prescribed event occurring. The premium on these products represents the opportunity cost for having the funds available,” he said.

MPW’s goal was to be recognized as the “leading authority” in wealth protection advice in Australia, he added.

The bank has also appointed Craig Boss, formerly with AG Private Advisory, as an insurance specialist based in Sydney as part of Dieter’s team. He joins a number of wealth protection professionals who are already part of the MPW team.

MPW said there were currently no plans to roll out wealth protection services through its business in Asia.