Carby quit Openwork
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Openwork announced last week that Carby was leaving with immediate effect, to be replaced by chairman Martin Davis.
Carby says: "I was working on the basis that the advisers and the staff owning 75 per cent of the business counted for something but some people at Zurich had an alternative view."
Zurich owns 25 per cent of Openwork, with the other 75 per cent owned by Openwork advisers and employees.
Davis says: "Keith had a clear view of where we were going as a business but the reality is that the strategy needed new focus."
Davis says Openwork is likely to look for additional funding from Zurich. He says: "We need to form a vision and a view as to where the market is going and then have a conversation with Zurich and ask them if they are up for supporting us. My understanding is that Zurich is open to discussions about how the share arrangement could be structured in the future."
He says Openwork, which operates on a multi-tied basis, will launch an IFA arm due to the upcoming retail distribution review changes.
He says: "Openwork will have to sit in the middle. A large number of advisers will migrate in one direction and then a large number will migrate in the other. We need to start developing our model so we can support both groups explicitly."
Carby says it was always his intention to move the firm in a similar direction. He will take a short break before returning to the industry.
