CompaniesApr 28 2016

Cowan: Sesame Bankhall can do a lot better

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Cowan: Sesame Bankhall can do a lot better

John Cowan has admitted there is still room for improvement at the company as it moves on from last year’s make or break strategic review which saw it lose 60 per cent of its network advisers.

A year after parent Friends Life’s strategic review into the company ended, the executive chairman of Sesame Bankhall Group said he is focused on improving SBG to make it a “partner” to financial advisers.

“We want to get the very best products and services - we want to make it easier for advisers to do business,” he said.

Referring to Sesame’s mortgage business - the network’s core since it closed to investment advisers last July- he said: “We remain committed to delivering exclusives [for advisers]”

“We’re working with lenders to make the advisers’ experience of processing mortgage applications easier, to service their clients’ related needs of protection and general insurance.”

SBG’s management plan is to grow the remaining mortgage network business again, he said.

A total of 60 per cent of the Sesame network’s appointed representatives left when it shut to investment advisers, following two fines from the regulator and an enforced review of past pension advice.

But Mr Cowan revealed the group has undergone some internal soul-searching before it looks to external expansion.

“We’ve been asking whether we are managing our existing business really well and to the best of our ability”, he said, adding “the answer to that is we can do a lot better”.

He said past problems at SBG had left the management team “distracted”.

“There was an uncertainty around the ownership. The completion of the strategic review has changed the whole mood of the place - you can see the release of energy.”

The completion of the strategic review has changed the whole mood of the place - you can see the release of energy. John Cowan

The strategic review was launched by owner Friends Life in 2013.

Mr Cowan said Sesame now has the support of Aviva - which bought Friends Life last year – after the financial service giant warned the company would need to enter profit or face closure before the acquisition.

“We are having a lot of conversations with Aviva about how a group that size can help us with the delivery of more services,” Mr Cowan said.

“I want to leverage the power of being owned by that group. Andy Briggs [chief executive of Aviva UK Life] is the most enthusiastic Bankhall supporter.”

Mr Cowan added Sesame is interested in helping advisers who want to provide some form of robo-advice solution to capture new client bases.

However, he also said: “Some advisers are preserving their traditional client base but others feel they have a responsibility to find ways of helping clients.

“We will want to help them, but we absolutely need clarity on the regulation.”