So finally Sesame has been given another lifeline. After deciding to close its appointed representative arm for wealth adviser firms, the business has now been rewarded by new parent company Aviva, and Friends Life, its existing owner.
The two companies have together offered a cheque of £45m to cover future liabilities and restructuring costs.
Aviva said in a statement: “We are therefore providing financial support that Sesame Bankhall Group can call upon in the event that it is required in the next two years.”
Once Aviva took over, the new parent clearly told Friends Life it had a stark choice: get rid of the troublesome business or you face life on your own.
At the start of the year Aviva had been quite clear about the predicament that Sesame was in. It had said that in its format at the time - while Sesame still took on regulatory responsibilities for wealth firms - it needed ongoing life support from its parent company to survive.
However, Aviva would not be able to make the same “open-ended” commitment to it as Friends Life.
Faced with this choice, and the unlikelihood of finding an equally generous parent anywhere in financial services, or being able to carry on alone, it had to shut down the most troublesome side of the company.
But the story highlights the challenges of long-established financial services businesses and the existential dangers one or two ‘rogue’ advisers can create for an entire firm.
And more than anything, this is a natural consequence of the lack of the long-stop. A complaint can come out of anywhere, at any time, and apply to the life of the financial adviser. The longer advisers are forced to live with no cut off point to their advice, the more fines and complaints will erode and eventually devour the good advisers trying to change people’s lives.
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