MI was contacted by a source who had been told by a number of GE employees that the two brands were set to be combined under the GEMHL title.
Get the daily news delivered to your inbox
The source said: “GE is planning an imminent merger of the igroup and First National brands. Both have had specific roles in the past but recently they have lost that distinction.”
Mark Maguire, head of external communications at GEMHL, said there were no plans to merge the brands in the short term.
Download our news ticker
“Both are very powerful brands and are popular among brokers. However, GEMHL is a globally recognised name and is the parent company, with igroup and First National as product ranges of GEMHL. Therefore, dissolving the boundaries is possible but would be a long way away.”
Bob Sturges, director of communications at Money Partners, said: “We had this discussion when I was at GEMHL. igroup and First National are broker-focused names so you would have to ask if you were diluting the GE brand in the eyes of the intermediary.”
