It has unlocked a niche with personalised plans for the middle class who suffered most from the post-1997 property and stock market crashes and are now looking for safer investments with better returns than bank interest rates.

While financial planning was once reserved for the wealthy with several millions of dollars to play with, Convoy serves customers who can invest as little as HK$1,200 a month.

It is obviously a huge market. The company has grown from a staff of 20 in 1998 to more than 1,000 consultants.

From one small office, it has expanded to two floors at One Pacific Place along with another two floors at Lee Gardens.

But the firm has not stopped as it charges forward like an unstoppable convoy of trucks.

The firm is also branching out, opening its first Convoy Wealth Centre in Sheung Wan.

The spacious 13,000 sqft facility officially opens next month and will have private meeting rooms for clients to meet relationship managers, a venue for seminars and a training centre.

'Our aim is to be more accessible to customers,' sales and marketing director Rosetta Fong Sut-sam said.

'The market is still growing and we are considering opening more centres in different areas of Hong Kong.'

Convoy also recently launched its new Investment Management Advisory services, which is measured against international credit rating agency Standard & Poor's.

The innovative mutual fund selection model helps clients make smart portfolio management decisions through an optimisation process that maximises expected returns for a given level of risk.

Convoy also engages the equity research arm of Standard & Poor's to provide independent market research and analysis to its consultants, providing regular updates of key developments in global economies and markets.

Eric Ng Ka-wai, managing director of Convoy Asset Management, said: 'As clients become more sophisticated they are increasingly looking for diversified investment strategies and portfolio management information to capture global market opportunities within their risk profiles.'

The new service enabled consultants to offer 'unparalleled depth and breadth of market intelligence which had been unavailable to average investors', he said.

Such growth means opportunities are plentiful, even for those without experience in finance. Ms Fong said: 'Our only minimum requirement is a degree.'

Deputy director Henry Shin said: 'We focus mostly on the character of candidates. This business is all about results.

'It is for people who are looking for successful careers and not just a job. Some people think you need previous experience for this industry, but we have had a lot of success stories from completely different fields.

'Newcomers can trust our training and our experience in retraining those from many backgrounds.'

Newcomers receive an allowance for an eight-day crash-course in marketing retirement plans and basically learning the rules.

This is followed by six months 'on-the-job' probation on a basic salary of HK$8,000 with a mentor, a team leader and a more experienced colleague who teaches them how to deal with clients.

'We find this stage to be the most useful,' Mr Shin said.

'In a lot of companies, newcomers are trained for a month then thrown-out on their own to start doing business.

'Our mentor scheme makes it easier for them to make the transition.'

They also have to study for two exams - the International Qualifications Assessment Service, administered by the Professional Insurance Brokers Association, to obtain a licence to sell investment products, and the Investment Representative Licence, issued by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, which is the qualification required to provide investment advice.

New recruits are expected to pass both exams within six months.

Ms Fong said once qualified as a consultant there was no salary. Earnings were based purely on commission, which initially averaged HK$15,000 to HK$20,000 a month.

Earnings increase substantially the higher a consultant climbs the promotion ladder.

The business is not for everyone. Annual staff turnover in the industry can be as high as 90 per cent a year, with a particularly high drop-out rate among those on probation.