Sesame says it believes that the acquisition of Bankhall/PMS represents an excellent opportunity to consolidate its position as the leading distributor of financial adviser support services.
The two businesses combined would create the scale and breadth of service that Sesame and Bankhall see as critical success factors in supporting financial advisers in a post-RDR world.
A combination of Sesame and Bankhall would result in:
· The largest Appointed Representative Network with c3,000 advisers
· The largest directly regulated service business supporting over 1,500 firms
· The largest mortgage distributor with over £45bn in applications generated in 2008
Ivan Martin, Sesame Executive Chairman commented: “The proposed merger of our directly regulated services business, Sesame Direct, with Bankhall would create the largest services business in the UK. Bankhall’s brand has long been synonymous with quality; in any combined business Bankhall would continue to operate with its own staff and distinct propositions.
“At Sesame we believe strongly that Networks will benefit from the changes proposed by RDR and we are committed to maintaining and growing our financial adviser and mortgage networks, both of which will continue to operate under the Sesame brand.
“The RDR presents both a major challenge and an opportunity for our profession and the Consultation Paper issued last Thursday makes it clear that significant investment will be required over the next three years. Sesame and Bankhall combined would be in the strongest possible position to make these investments. This will be vitally important as it will ensure that we can offer financial advisers the widest choice of propositions, whether they are directly regulated with Bankhall or a member of Sesame’s Network”.
