The company announced details about ‘Sanlam Partners’ this morning along with plans for further integrating its private wealth and wealth planning businesses by setting up a new division that will encompass both areas.

The firm said Sanlam Partners was “a significant new initiative which will give culturally aligned financial planning firms the ability to utilise some of Sanlam’s processes, expertise and proposition to help grow their business”.

These businesses will have an opportunity to “become part of the Sanlam family through opportunity of PBO at a later stage”.

Sanlam announced various appointments as part of the unveiling:

• John White, formerly of A J Gallagher and lead of RSM Tenon’s financial services arm, will head up the new division
• Alex Morley will report to John White and continue to lead the wealth planning business and focus on establishing a new partnership programme that the group will roll out in January 2017
• Alfio Tagliabue will take over as CEO of its boutique asset management arm, Sanlam FOUR. Currently Sanlam UK’s CFO, he spent 12 years as a board-level consultant to boutique asset and wealth managers, most notably at Thames River, before becoming CFO at Ashcourt Rowan
• Jeremy Gibson, CEO of Sanlam Investments and Pensions, will take on the role of interim CFO for the group
• Graham Hooper, formerly of Miton Group and Charles Stanley, has joined the group as distribution director.

Chief executive Jonathan Polin expressed his intention to become a market leader in the UK.

Mr Polin said: “My aim is to create a unified, integrated financial services business recognised for the quality of its advice, asset & discretionary fund management services. I am delighted to be announcing so many strong additions to the Sanlam Group today along with initiatives that I firmly believe will help deliver an even better service to clients.

“The integration our Private Wealth and Wealth Planning arms is vital to deliver a focussed and highly skilled Wealth Management business that puts financial planning at its heart. This will be at the forefront of everything we do. Our proposed partnership programme will be a significant accelerator of our plans.

“Today’s announcement is an important step to achieving our goal of building an integrated financial services group in the UK. We have significant experience in our service divisions, an AA+ rated parent and a broad UK footprint, so we are in a position of strength. I am very pleased with the progress we have made this year and approach 2017 with optimism and enthusiasm.”