M&G is to combine a number of its existing businesses to form a new wealth management division as it looks to expand the adviser-based side of the company.
The giant asset manager announced today (September 30) it would bring together Ascentric, the platform recently acquired from Royal London, Prudential Financial Planning, The Advice Partnership and the M&G Direct funds business, the direct to consumer part of M&G Investments, to form a new arm of M&G.
The new division's assets under management and administration will total £28bn, and David Montgomery, previously COO of customer and distribution at M&G, will take the helm as managing director.
Mr Montgomery has 10 years of experience in financial services and joined M&G from Transamerica, the US insurer, at the beginning of the year. Previously he held senior roles at Royal Bank of Scotland and Aegon UK.
David Macmillan, chief customer and distribution officer at M&G, said: “The formation of this new division is part of our strategy to expand our service offering for advisers, their clients and our wider customer base in the UK.
“Demand for high quality advice and supporting wealth solutions is rising and we want to participate more actively in this growing market.”
Mr Macmillan said M&G saw a “great opportunity” to create something unique in the market, adding that the new division was part of the process that started with the launch of The Advice Partnership and continued with its acquisition of Ascentric.
Prudential Financial Planning launched a self-employed arm, The Advice Partnership, in November last year.
It was initially open to 25 of Prudential’s advisers but has since opened to advisers outside of the business, currently hosting 70 advice firms.
M&G hopes to more than treble that number by early next year, with hopes of 220 self-employed advisers joining The Advice Partnership by spring 2021.
The firm is also looking to expand its services to advisers, which it said would be achieved by ongoing development of the Ascentric platform and leveraging the benefits of the businesses being closely aligned.
M&G announced it was to buy Ascentric from Royal London in May this year after the industry learnt the platform was up for grabs in February.
It has since pledged it would be “business as usual” going forward for advisers using the Ascentric platform, confirming that Ascentric would remain separate from M&G’s popular with-profits fund, PruFund.
imogen.tew@ft.com
What do you think about the issues raised by this story? Email us on fa.letters@ft.com to let us know.