The number of approved persons at Sesame Limited, part of the Sesame Bankhall Group, has this month fallen to 1,430 from a high of 2,410 advisers in August 2009, data has revealed.
In December 2012, Sesame had 1,666 approved persons.
In January, the Sesame Bankhall Group announced that members will have six months to move to its restricted offering, become directly authorised under Bankhall or leave the network altogether.
This saw some Sesame Limited members express concern about the direction of the Group. Steve Thomas, financial planner at Surrey-based Eurofinance Partnership, said he left after the implementation of the restricted model left him with no alternative but to become “directly authorised” using sister company Bankhall’s back-office systems.
The Imas data came as Friends Life sold Lombard, its European wealth advisory arm, to investment group Blackstone.
Friends Life (Friends Provident as was) bought Sesame in 2007 for £75m. In 2009, Sesame acquired Bankhall and, in February 2013, Friends Life appointed Barclays Capital to conduct a strategic review of the Sesame Bankhall Group.
When asked if Sesame Bankhall Group would be up for sale now the Lombard deal had been completed, a spokesman for Friends Life said: “As is well known, there is an ongoing strategic review so nothing has changed.”
Last year, the group was hit by a £6m fine from the FCA over advice failings and broader systems and controls weaknesses.
However, Stephen Gazard, managing director of Sesame Bankhall Group said the Imas numbers only looked at approved persons and not at the entire network.
“Once you look at Sesame Bankhall Group as a whole the numbers have remained static over the year and the group has seen some growth. What we have seen is a realignment into mortgage and protection, which has become buoyant.”
He said the group has seen a transition for advisers to become directly authorised under Bankhall, and that this was nothing new. He added: “We do not have to carry an agenda, some firms go from directly approved to network. We also pick up firms from other network providers and, last year, 700 advisers applied and 550 were accepted.
“We are not interested in old school adviser numbers, our focus is on profitability and risk management. So we have seen no mass exodus as a result of adopting a restricted posture, some chose to go directly approved, the majority have gone over to Bankhall and some go elsewhere as it is cheaper, more cost affective for them.
“We are comfortable with where we are sitting and relaxed about where the business is.”
Tenet group brands director, Mike O’Brien: “In the wake of Sesame’s decision to go restricted, it is not surprising to see an element of migration by advisers looking for a home from which to give independent advice.
We have also had an influx of advisers joining our non-investment brand, TenetLime. But in fairness, this has nothing to do with the restricted issue and is more a reaction to the scale of changes as a whole.”
