Ascentric gets senior pair
Thursday, 6 November 2008
Ascentric, the whole of market Wrap provider, announces two new senior appointments. Shaun Sandiford as Head of Sales and Dominic Ventham as Head of Marketing. Both join the company on 10 November.
Shaun was previously Regional Sales Director for Abbey Wealth Management and has spent the last five years with James Hay in a number of senior Wrap platform roles. In his new role at Ascentric, he will be responsible for an expanded national business development team and will work closely with leading IFAs and Wealth Managers throughout the UK.
An economics graduate, Shaun has over 20 years experience in financial services, working within life and pension companies and investment houses.
Dominic will spearhead Ascentric's marketing programme and growth offensive. He joins Ascentric from Prudential where his latest role was Head of Proposition and Market Strategy covering its Lifetime Mortgage and Annuity range.
He has spent over 10 years working for Prudential, where he held a number of senior marketing roles in Retirement Income and Investment Products. Dominic was also an integral member of the team that launched the "Plan from the Pru" brand campaign in 2002 and led Prudential's repositioning as a Retirement Solutions brand to the intermediary market in 2006.
A languages graduate, Dominic has 15 years marketing experience in the financial services and publishing sectors.
Hugo Thorman, Executive Managing Director of Ascentric, said, "We are delighted that Shaun and Dominic have agreed to join the business at this exciting stage of our development. Between them, their extensive experience of Wrap, the Investment sector and their understanding of the needs of advisers will ensure we continue to meet market needs."
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For further information, please contact:
Ascentric
Mark Murphy
Email: mark.murphy@ascentric.co.uk
Tel: 01225 787208
Mobile: 07788 107 373
Issued by Concise Public Relations:
Martin Wood
Email: martin@concisepr.com
Tel: 01252 656435
Mobile: 07946 527 240
Notes to Editors:
Ascentric and Fundsdirect are the trading names of Investment Funds Direct Limited.
Investment Funds Direct Limited was founded in 1982, and Fundsdirect launched as the UK's first online fund supermarket in December 1999. Since that time, the company has built on their reputation as a leading UK fund supermarket to provide Independent Financial Advisers (IFAs) with a Wrap service under the brand name of Ascentric.
Ascentric is a whole of market Wrap service, available exclusively to IFAs and offers a fully integrated online investment management and dealing platform. It also enables IFAs to transfer their clients' assets onto a single platform to provide them with the ability to manage their client's financial needs in just one place. This is obviously a considerable enhancement to the existing, time-consuming practice of IFAs introducing their clients to a number of different product providers.
In October 2007, a majority holding of Investment Funds Direct Group Limited was acquired by Royal London Group.
For further information about Ascentric and Fundsdirect, please visit either www.ascentric.co.uk or www.fundsdirect.co.uk.
Royal London Group, is a specialist financial service provider. Its businesses focus on those sectors of the market which value quality propositions, operating through a number of brands:
- Scottish Life – UK pensions market
- Bright Grey – UK protection market
- Scottish Provident – UK protection market
- Phoenix Life Assurance Limited – provides life and pensions products to Abbey's national branch network
- Scottish Life International – offshore investment markets
- Scottish Provident International – offshore investment markets
- RLAM – fund management
- RLAS – life and pensions administration
- Fundsdirect / Ascentric – funds supermarket; Wrap platform
Royal London is the largest mutual life and pensions company in the UK with Group funds under management of £32.4 billion. Group businesses serve around three million customers and employ 2,750 people. Figures quoted are as at 30 June 2008, prior to the acquisition of Scottish Provident's new business capabilities (in respect of individual life protection business) and of Phoenix Life Assurance Limited.