"Helping them be more productive, run more efficiently, and giving them access to the right propositions that ultimately will deliver the best outcomes and fair value for their customers."
- Stephanie Charman, Group Partnerships & Propositions Director at SBG
Recent adviser research & feedback conducted by Sesame Bankhall Group (SBG) highlighted that a broad provider panel could act as an entry barrier for some advisory firms, particularly those new to writing protection.
Therefore, SBG has expanded its protection offering to include Solo Protection via Aviva and Flex Protection, providing short-panel and sole-tie solutions that complement SBG’s existing offering through its Zenith Protection proposition. This expansion gives advisers greater choice and flexibility, ensuring better customer outcomes.
Solo Protection is a single-tie option offering dedicated support to those committed to fully embedding protection into their business. Advisers get access to a wide range of Aviva’s protection solutions, including Life Insurance, Critical Illness (CI), and Income & Living Costs Protection.
Flex Protection offers a shortened panel of five protection providers which can help streamline (whilst still diversifying) an adviser’s approach to protection. This panel includes Aviva, Legal & General (L&G), LV= & Zurich as its core providers with the option to add a ‘plus one’ from The Exeter, Guardian Financial Services (Guardian), Royal London, Scottish Widows or Vitality. This provides advisers with the flexibility to choose an additional partner they feel is best suited for their business and the customer demographics they support.
This news comes as SBG embarks on a programme of further growth and modernisation to help deliver on its ambition to become the UK’s leading provider of services to advice firms and their proactive partner of choice.
Alongside its expanded proposition offering, SBG has established a protection helpdesk to assist advisers with market insight, product information, and practical support for complex cases. Notably, technology enhancements to its adviser toolkit are planned for later this year.
“We understand how important protection is to ensuring people have their finances safeguarded, should life throw them a curveball, and the implementation of Consumer Duty has placed an even greater emphasis on protecting customers from foreseeable harm,” explained Stephanie Charman, Group Partnerships & Propositions Director at SBG.
She said: “This is why we’re committed to supporting the advisers we serve across SBG and PMS Mortgage Club, to ensure protection is front & centre of every conversation they have with their customers.
“We appreciate the barriers they have come up against, particularly for those who’re perhaps new to protection. That’s why we’ve acted on feedback and expanded our protection offering to ensure we’re doing all we can to most effectively support advisers,” Stephanie concluded.
