Only someone who believes they’re entering the twilight of their career could say: “I’m at an age where I don’t want to work with people I don’t like.” So thinks Jonathan Polin, chief executive of Sanlam UK, who says he has been in the financial services sector a long time.
Mr Polin joined the South African firm’s UK arm in the latter stages of his career as a five-year turnaround project.
“Everything I’ve asked for they agreed to,” he said. “They’re financing what I’m doing and let me get on with it.”
Sanlam is one of the largest wealth management businesses in South Africa, with a market cap of £10bn. In recent years, it has used the UK business to send South African clients over to conduct offshore business, for those fearful of political instability in their home country.
He said: “We believe that in three to five years’ time, 50 per cent will be going offshore. A lot of it is to do with political instability. Sanlam is one of the big firms [in South Africa] that manage money, and because of that they use us to manage their offshore assets.”
Mr Polin was brought in two years ago to bring together the disparate parts of Sanlam UK and to create a more coherent vertically integrated finance business. There are four parts to Sanlam UK, a financial advice business, a life company, an asset management company and a discretionary fund manager (DFM).
The company also has a strategic investment in Nucleus – 57 per cent stake in the economic value and 43 per cent of the voting rights. Mr Polin said: “Over 2016 we put the business together in a form of vertical integration; in 2017 we started working as a vertically integrated business. We’re 40 per cent ahead of where we were and 80 per cent of volume for our financial planning business.
“A big driver is the large need for financial advice in the UK. Pension freedoms across the whole spectrum through to advice on DB schemes has been growing.”
Few know the Sanlam brand in the UK, something Mr Polin admits to, but a large proportion of the company’s business comes through referrals from professional connections, solicitors and accountancy firms. The company is therefore aiming for a specific demographic.
However, this has resulted in the average age of a Sanlam client being 65. The company loses 5 per cent of its client base each year simply through death.
Mr Polin is trying to boost the number by targeting the children of clients to help alleviate pressure.
But the big question for any large advice business – and Sanlam has about 210 advisers following the recent acquisition of Tavistock Financial – is how does he keep control of the advice process?
For Mr Polin’s firm, the answer is a centralised paraplanning service, which follows a set procedure when it comes to devising product recommendations. The advice process goes through a series of checks and, where possible, Sanlam products are recommended.
Mr Polin said: “Somewhere around 65-70 per cent of our clients have some form of Sanlam product – 30 per cent that it’s not suitable for will have to get something else.”
So is he modelling the company on St James’ Place? Something often said to Mr Polin. “Everyone says that, but I don’t see it that way. I see similarities in that both have life companies and both have DFM capability and financial advisers. My belief is to be able to assure we can give the client the best outcomes at a price that’s affordable. The scale benefits of vertical integration allow you to do that.”
Mr Polin’s ambition is to build a business with a thousand advisers. He said: “We’ve started running our partnership programme, which means the adviser becomes restricted to us but they keep their own brand.”
“We’re doing more and more about generational wealth to make sure we look after the children of these clients. We need to be much more active in the way in which we offer products and services to millennials, and generation X and Y,” he added.
But what of the future: will the model become outdated among his new target audience, given the advance of technology? Mr Polin argued not.
“When people make big decisions in life, do they want an annuity or should they have an income drawdown solution, no one wants to do that by pushing a button. They want someone who gives advice.”
“More than anything else that face-to-face advice will always be around, and I believe the requirements will be increasing not decreasing. The way to interact with financial advisers will change. Most people’s finances aren’t that complicated.
Mr Polin remains sanguine about how many years he has left in the industry. “I ultimately believe in giving clients a really good service, and give them the best possible outcome. I’m 58 and my career is over. As I tell my children, I’m on the pathway to death.”
Melanie Tringham is features editor of Financial Adviser
Johnathan Polin's career highlights
2015 – present: Group chief executive Sanlam UK
2015 – present: Chairman Argonaut Capital Partners
2011 - 2015: Group chief executive Ashcourt Rowan
2004 – 2011: Sales and marketing director, Ignis Asset Management
