Meet Danica Warren, a relationship manager in our Perth office
Hi Danica, could you tell us a bit about yourself?
I started at FIIG almost three years ago as a dealer assistant and moved
into a relationship manager role at the beginning of the year. While I’ve been at FIIG, I’ve hadthe opportunity to help coordinate the move to our office on St Georges Terrace, and create some really fun and exciting events for clients. I previously worked for my Dad’s electrical company part time while at uni.
Have you always lived in Perth?
Yes I grew up in Perth; I went to school at St Mary’s Anglican Girls School and studied a bachelor of commerce at UWA. I’ve also been lucky enough to do quite a bit of travelling in Europe.
Where did you go in Europe?
I’ve been to Europe a few times. Croatia, the Greek Island and Barcelona are probably some my favourite places that I’ve visited. The last time I was in Europe was particularly special, I was in Budapest for my birthday, we decided to go on a walk tour through out the city and it started snowing for the first time that season. It didn’t stop all
day and we watched the city turn white, it was very magical.
What attracted you to FIIG and the world of fixed income?
I like helping people discover a different asset class that lets them use their capital and earn regular income. I think in Perth especially, it’s a city dominated by the share and property markets and I’m excited to help change that.
How was the transition to the new role? Did your day to day duties change?
I found the transition quite easy. When I was a dealer assistant, I already had a close relationship with a lot of clients. We have lots of events in our office so, I had the opportunity to mingle and get to know people on a personal level.
Being an assistant I’d already had practice answering common questions. The office is expanding rapidly and I was fortunate enough to be given a portfolio of existing clients when I stepped up to the role.
Do you have a top piece of advice for clients?
Diversify, you can use economic indicators to try and predict what will happen in the future, but unfortunately I think there’s always going to be something unexpected around the corner that we can’t be prepared for. If you’ve got enough diversity in your portfolio (over multiple asset classes and also within those asset classes) then you can be somewhat protected.
Talk me through an average day
I usually get in and check my emails, responding to clients who may have had, for example, a term deposit roll off or some extra cash to invest. So I’ll have a look at their portfolios and chat through some different options, and once they’re happy I put in an order.
I’ll also do reviews for clients who have ‘set and forget’ portfolios and see if they want to readjust any of their holdings. I think at the moment I’ve got about $30m of clients I’m looking after.
How many clients would you speak to on a daily basis?
Anywhere from four to ten. Over the last two days we’ve had two big events in Perth and I spoke to over 60 clients, but that wasn’t an average day.
Speaking of events, can you tell me more about the ones in Perth?
I looked after events when I was a dealer assistant but I’m planning on continuing some of our bigger events.
An exciting one for me was last Christmas, when we held the FIIG Festival. We opened up the whole office and had around eight market stalls. One stall was chocolate tasting, another was a burger slider station, beer tasting, oysters, champagne, cheese tasting… the list goes on.
We also had a mini golf putting competition. We wanted to make our event the “fun one” that clients would look forward to attending at a busy time of the year.
Thinking outside work – what are your hobbies?
I’m a very social person so love catching up with friends. I also love cooking and have just recently started learning Spanish, it’s a lot harder than I was expecting!
Why Spanish?
When I was in high school I always wanted to learn Spanish, but it wasn’t offered as an option. My parents have decided to go to South America next year and mum really wanted to learn Spanish, so we enrolled together.
How does the Perth office compare to the east coast offices?
It’s definitely a different atmosphere – we’re a small, close knit team. Our desks are all near each other so when a client calls one of the other dealers I might answer and chat to them instead, and vice versa, so we get to know what everyone is doing.
Do Perth clients want the same bonds as those on the east coast?
I think it’s probably client specific, some will only want high yielding bonds. Others will say “this is the really conservative part of my portfolio, I’m not looking for yield I just want to make sure my money is there at the end and sleep easy at night”, so it’s a real mixture and that’s what I enjoy. I love that not everyone is looking for the same thing. It’s always different.
Interestingly, particularly in Perth, almost everyone here has some connection to mining and they’re aware it’s a cyclical industry. I’ve noticed that because we’re closer to it and the recent downturn we’ve experienced, perhaps clients don’t feel the need to chase yield as much.
Here’s a tougher question, what’s your favourite movie and music artist at the moment?
My favourite movies would be the Pirates of the Caribbean series or Ratatouille. Katy Perry is probably my favourite artist, the song “Firework” always puts me in the best mood.
What is the number one goal you want to achieve at FIIG?
People generally come to bonds so they don’t need to worry about their capital on a daily basis; I love helping people with their portfolios and hope that they can have that peace of mind.
Finally, how do you define success?
Being happy and loving your job, I know it’s corny but I genuinely love coming to my job every day.
Danica is based in the Perth office. She can be reached on (08) 9421 8507.