Securitor offers succession planning across network
Securitor will offer access to succession planning assistance via the group’s dealer services to any of the 234 practices within the group that request it.
Securitor’s managing director Matt Englund said planning practices that used the assistance would work with a range of brokers, with practices for sale offered in the first instance to other planners or practices within the Securitor network.
“In the event where a practice comes up for sale we will canvas the Securitor network for interested parties, but what we are finding is that if a practice is large enough the purchasers are usually those within the practice, and we will assist them to take over the operation of the practice,” Englund said.
The succession planning assistance would be offered on a bespoke basis depending on the needs of the practice and charged on a sliding scale dependent on the time required to prepare the business for sale according to Englund.
While the assistance is on offer to any practice in the network, Englund said succession plans usually succeed when there is a viable business that has a clear governance structure as well as understandable systems and processes.
“These are the type of practices banks will lend to and people will buy, and which we will work with the business owner to ensure they meet their own lifestyle goals after the succession plan is completed,” Englund said.
The provision of succession planning is part of a wider group of dealer services offered by Securitor to the 480 planners in the group and the external planners and licensees which access the services via Licensee Select.
At present about 300 planners and 70 licensees outside the group also make use of the services which include Securitor offering specific underwriting guidance about the seven risk insurance providers accessible to planners in the group.
Englund said Securitor had provided a comprehensive brief on what markets each risk insurance provider operates in and where they excelled in underwriting, so that planners were able to place clients in specific occupations with the most suitable insurer and risk policy.
As a result of this Englund said Securitor had been able to lift the number of new premiums written by 149 per cent and ensured more clients of the network had taken out appropriate risk cover than in the past.
In research published by Investment Trends in its 2013 Planner Business Model Report, Securitor’s dealer group services were recently ranked as the leaders in the market. Investment Trends assessed adviser advocacy for a dealer group and the level of satisfaction advisers expressed for the services they were being provided.
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Jason Spits
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