"I am excited to further empower our member firms to effectively meet their customers’ protection needs with even greater confidence."
- Daniel Darby, Protection Account Manager at Stonebridge
Prior to this appointment, Daniel Darby served as Area Mortgage Manager for South Wales & South West England at TSB Bank after several promotions. He’s also worked at Lloyds Banking Group for over seven years as a Business Manager and then as a Mortgage & Protection Adviser.
In his new role, Daniel will focus on developing and implementing additional training programmes to further improve Appointed Representatives' (AR) ability to discuss protection with customers, as well as promoting continuous engagement and facilitating access to centralised expertise.
This appointment is the next step in the network’s strategy to bring protection support and training to its AR firms.
Earlier this year, Stonebridge announced several enhancements to its protection panel with the addition of Guardian Financial Services (Guardian) and Zurich Insurance – joining AIG, Aviva, L&G, LV, Royal London, and Vitality. Alongside these providers, Stonebridge’s membership has access to iPipeline’s Solution Builder, Business Development Manager (BDM) support, and an in-network referral option (Stonebridge Protect) for firms wanting to redirect customers to a specialist.
READ MORE: Stonebridge secures two major insurers for its protection panel
In April 2024, Stonebridge announced its latest partnership with Wessex Group, securing member firms access to its Homeowners Income Protection (HIP) offering. It also offered advisers flexibility on Accident, Sickness & Unemployment (ASU), Accident & Sickness (AS), or standalone Unemployment (U) policies.
“Recently, advisers have had slim pickings to choose from in terms of ASU products, and this has often meant advice has focused on Life Insurance and Critical Illness (CI) alone,” explained Nigel Preston, Jt Managing Director at Wessex Group. While these policies are valuable, Life and CI “don’t address the short-term income impacts of an accident, sickness, or unemployment event.”
READ MORE: Stonebridge turns the tide on “slim pickings” with new ASU partnership
“A key element of our strategy is to provide our ARs with market-leading support and training to protect their customers confidently. With Daniel now on board, we will be further accelerating our plan,” said John Scrivens, Head of Sales at Stonebridge.
John highlighted that having previously been an adviser, “Daniel brings with him the experience, knowledge, and understanding to engage and support our member firms. Not only for where they are as a business today but for their future aspirations.”
