James Hay is adamant it will not be affected by the sale of IFA Saunderson House by its parent company, despite the potential loss of clients.
IFG Group, which owns James Hay and Saunderson House, announced that Saunderson House was up for sale five weeks ago, saying “greater value for shareholders may be created.”
Speaking to Money Marketing, James Hay chief executive Alastair Conway says: “[Saunderson House] had, before it joined IFG Group, been an important customer of ours so in terms of the impact on us beyond them as a customer moving somewhere else perhaps with a different platform strategy, there is no effect on how we run the James Hay business.”
Conway says: “The group remains fully supportive of the business and recognises we are part of a growing part of the sector with lots of opportunities so we are fairly relaxed about the selling process due to happen, we just get on with running what we are running.”
James Hay HMRC biofuel scheme tax charge could reach £20mExpanding into further retirement options and increasing technological offerings will be the main focus for James Hay this year, which Conway says are part of an overall strategy to increase ease of client and investor communications.
He says: “Consolidation in the platform space is being driven by common technology platforms because it’s easy to move clients across. There’s no doubt the market is shifting and we have been talking about it for years, but it’s really noticeable in the last 12 months that there really is movement.”
James Hay increased its client base by 6,000 in 2017, despite continuing legacy issues and the run off of the biofuel tax scheme, with total assets under administration now at £25.2bn.
Comments