The Cardiff-based packager has supplied its name and services to two brokers based in Manchester, who will now trade under the name Trustguard Manchester.
Trustguard says this could be the first of many similar franchises across the country and it is aiming to complete around £70m of business through its Manchester operation this year.
Sian Brown, national sales manager at Trustguard, said: “We were approached by two brokers who we had conducted a lot of business through us in the past. They wanted to find a way of increasing their business and we had been considering the franchise option so we approached them with it and they were happy to accept. We will be looking at how it works but it is definitely something we want to develop and introduce across the UK in the future.”
Trustguard Manchester will be run by Ron Jehu and Craig Lamb. They will be using the packager’s systems and technology to process business.
Their current business, Financial Portfolio Management Ltd, will continue to conduct the firm’s broking work and will supply cases to the Trustguard Manchester packager operation. They have also been given an exclusive area in the North West in which to conduct business.
Ron Jehu, director for Trustguard Manchester, believes both parties will benefit from the arrangement: “We were looking to become satellite packagers for Trustguard but when we spoke to it, it offered us the franchise and a secured area of business in Greater Manchester. For us this sounded better than just becoming a run-of-the-mill packager and we think we can expand the Trustguard brand for the advantage of both of companies.”
