Sesame senior management hires ahead of platform launch
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Sesame Bankhall Group has recruited Intrinsic and Positive Solutions directors as part of a senior management reshuffle as the firm looks to set up its own investment platform.
This week’s Money Marketing reveals the move which will see the platform developed in partnership with another company and unveiled later this year. The group has created a new unit headed by Sesame Bankhall chief operating officer Stephen Young to deliver the platform and a number of other initiatives.
Intrinsic Financial Services founding director George Higginson has been appointed to take over the role of chief operating officer from Young. He will join the firm early in 2011 and will lead the response to the RDR and build on the product range.
Positive Solutions marketing director Keith Gilmour will join Sesame Bankhall in October as business development director, taking responsibility for developing the group’s brands and promoting its products to members.
Sesame Bankhall Group executive chairman Ivan Martin (pictured) says: “Stephen has led the successful integration of the new group and we are poised to make a series of major investments that will enable our members, and their clients, to look to the future with increasing confidence.
“It is imperative those investments are delivered successfully and add real value to our members’ businesses and Stephen will lead this vital work.”
In August, the company reported profits of £2m for the first six months of this year after a loss of £2m for the same period in 2009. In October 2009, Sesame bought Bankhall and PMS and undertook a massive restructure to incorporate over 10,000 advisers across the life, pensions, investment and mortgage sectors.
Martin says all three brands are now trading profitably. He adds: “We must continue to build on that success while looking toward a landscape that is undergoing huge regulatory change.”
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Readers' comments (10)
Paul | 8 Sep 2010 11:09 am
Hmmm, so SB are launching an RDR compliant platform are they? Should be interesting, given the Sesame success with 'Sesame Office' and the Bankhall success with 'Portavista'!
...or am I in an alternative universe :)
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Adam Bell | 8 Sep 2010 11:52 am
A bit late in the day to start looking at launching a platform!
Unless they can come up something that is cheaper and better than the existing ones, I reckon it'll last about 2 years max.
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Anonymous | 8 Sep 2010 11:53 am
In this market do they really think providers will pay for it? So it means the members will have make various contributions...........
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Edward T | 8 Sep 2010 12:55 pm
This lot are barking..
..... time to leave the Network.. too many suits to subsidise.. :-(
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Anonymous | 8 Sep 2010 2:28 pm
Are the contributors to the comments privy to the details of what is being launched?
How do they know that providers are expected to pay for a platform owned by Sesame?
Why is it time to leave when the details of what is being done have not been publicised? I think Edward T may be a bit impetuous or other issues.
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Edward T | 8 Sep 2010 2:50 pm
No.... Mr 'Anonymous (14;28)'... camel ...straw ...back... :-)
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Colin Palmer | 8 Sep 2010 3:56 pm
Anonymous 14.28. If you are a Sesame member you must be blind to what is going on and if not you don't know what you are talking about!
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Brett | 8 Sep 2010 9:25 pm
Of course 14.28 doesn't know what they're talking. He/she works for sesame after all...
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Mister Maker | 8 Sep 2010 9:48 pm
I didn't realise Friends Provident had a platform? Perhaps this subsidiary of Resolution will be allowed to assist in building the assets of another competitor insurance company?
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Anonymous | 9 Sep 2010 9:52 am
No -one seems to be concerned with the cost of raising the extra £10,000. In order to put this aside you need to make a profit, Profits, in most cases, are taxed. So the actual cost on profits of say £20,000 is an extra £2000 per business, so add this to your £10,000 and hey presto the true cost of capital adequacy is £12,000 if you put it away next 2011/12
Then there is the VAT - you can only claim back a low percentage of the VAT as most clients want to pay from the product so the association of repayments is a percentage of your overall costs that go to providing services for those that pay via their contract. So if only 2% of your clients want to hand over a cheque, you only get 2% back. We seem to fee paying, tax paying and soon VAT paying machines who cannot expand due to payroll costs and capital adequacy costs. It can only last so long.
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