Royal& Sun Alliance (R&SA) gave birth to Guardian Financial Services in November 2001. Not yet 12 months old, the group has already attracted 98 planners and has plans to grow that number to 500 within five years. The growth has come despite speculation in the market that R&SA is looking to sell its financial services division.
Leo Wassercug says Guardian came about in response to Financial Services Reform (FSR) legislation and “was basically a function of Royal and Sun Alliance converting their life agents to advisers”.
R&SA’s general manager, distribution Peter Jowett says R&SA did not have its own distribution force and was looking to maintain a relationship with a number of life advisers who were moving over to financial planning.
“Guardian was established in particular for that kind of adviser,” he says.
“The strategy was largely to engage people who are involved in financial planning, who had an association with RS&A and who had come, years ago, out of our relationships with advisers from a life background.”
Jowett says Guardian is particularly attractive to ex-life agents because it recognises their need for additional training to meet PS 146 requirements.
“Guardian recognises the aspiration of advisers from traditional life backgrounds to become better at being financial planners,” he says.
“We have set up a registered training organisation under the national training scheme to give advisers accreditation for PS 146 and we will soon offer the full Diploma of Financial Planning in the next month or so,” Jowett says.
The group has also established a buyer of last resort facility and implemented a good IT platform that can handle both compliance and commissions.
“Advisers are sent commission notification by e-mail,” he says. “It’s all very neat.”
Jowett says it’s too early to calculate how much Guardian has in funds under administration but the group does have “tremendous growth plans”.
“We will become a group with a broad range of financial services. We will have mortgage business and general insurance and in the next three to six months we will roll out a wrap designed specifically for Guardian advisers. RS&A developed the wrap and it has been designed specifically for this marketplace.”
