Promina restructures wealth management arms

By George Liondis

The financial services division of the Promina group will undergo an internal restructure, as it looks to turn a tidy profit into a growth strategy for its adviser network.

Asteron pitched in a handy $132 million of the $458 million profit Promina reported for 2004 late last month.

But the group’s two distinct business units — life insurance and wealth management — will be dismantled as part of the restructure, which takes effect on April 4.

Instead, Asteron will be divided along two separate customer-focused reporting lines — retail and corporate.

Chief executive Dennis Fox said: “It is about getting a greater client focus. When you are a product expert you can develop products for all sorts of reasons. When you are customer-focused, you develop products that clients want and buy.”

Asteron’s life insurance business was the star of the financial services division in 2004, adding $105 million to the bottom line. The head of the business, Sean Carroll, has been given the top job at Asteron’s New Zealand operations as part of the changes.

The wealth management business, which includes the Guardian dealer group, made a $27 million profit. Its head, Andrew Alcock, is likely to vie for one of the lead roles in the two restructured units.

Guardian itself will report directly through to Fox under the changes. The risk-focused dealer group is likely to be a beneficiary of Promina’s positive profit announcement according to Fox, with some of the funds to be used to finance a growth push.

The dealer has 160 planners, but Asteron’s long-term ambition is for it to house 500 advisers.

“We believe that a lot of advisers will find our proposition compelling and also find our product suite compelling,” Fox said.