In an interview with FTAdviser, Adrian Grace, chief executive of Aegon, admitted the product provider’s distribution arms, Positive Solutions and Origen, have had their problems in the past.
But he said Positive Solutions is now viewed as ‘best practice’ by the regulator.
His comments come after both Positive Solutions and Origen once again posted a loss in their latest fourth quarter results, with a total loss of £6m in 2011.
Mr Grace said he is confident these type of results from the two distributors will change.
He said: “You can’t build businesses on sand and by that I mean there are certain things that historically have gone on in Positive Solutions and Origen which were not and will not be sustainable in a post-RDR world and were not good practices for end consumers.
“There is a whole new compliance regime that is coming in and we have spent a lot of time investing in the right compliance practices over the course of the last 18 months to two years, to the point where the regulator now sees Positive Solutions as a best practice in terms of how to run a good solid intermediary network.”
Mr Grace claimed he has been fielding calls from other people wanting to buy Positive Solutions.
He said: “I know that Positive Solutions is a very attractive business in the market place at this moment in time because of the number of calls that I get from other people wanting to partner with it or buy it.
“At this moment in time, we are dealing with it, we are preparing for RDR and for those intermediaries that support Positive Solutions, the message they should take away is that there is value in this business and they should stay with Positive Solutions because ultimately we will realise that value and they will benefit from that.
“There is short term pain but there has been short term pain in the insurance business generally but you have to take that short-term pain in order to get stable foundations and build a business for the long-term and that is what we are trying to do. Both intermediaries and consumers will benefit from that.”
To read the full interview click here.
