The new wealth management division will be led by John White – formerly chief operating officer of employee benefits consultancy AJ Gallagher and prior to that chief executive of RSM Tenon’s financial services unit.
Both White and Alex Morley will take CEO titles – the former at the private wealth business and the latter at the wealth planning division.
Morley will also be charged with building a new partnership programme – following a similar format to that established by St James’s Place – to be rolled out in 2017 under the brand Sanlam Partners.
A statement from Sanlam said the move 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 and have an opportunity to become part of the Sanlam family through opportunity of practice buyout at a later stage.”
Amid a series of other significant appointments, Alfio Tagliabue becomes chief executive of the boutique asset management arm, Sanlam Four.
He was recently chief financial officer at Ashcourt Rowan, working alongside Jonathan Polin, who was its chief executive between 2011 and 2015.
Tagliabue also spent 12 years as a board level consultant to a number of smaller asset and wealth managers, including Thames River.
Of his appointment Polin said: “We have a vibrant and talented boutique asset management business within the group. I want to equip it for the future so it can deliver a range of different capabilities to help manage the needs of both our global client base, and our third party clients across the wholesale and institutional markets, in both the UK and Europe.
“Alfio’s strong understanding of the needs of a modern boutique asset management business and the trust I hold in him will help us to grow this vital area of our proposition.”
Elsewhere, Graham Hooper has joined as distribution director, having spent time in similar roles at Miton, Charles Stanley and AWD Chase de Vere.
Jeremy Gibson, currently chief executive of Sanlam Investments and Pensions, has been appointed interim chief financial officer.
Polin said: “My aim is to create a unified, integrated financial services business recognised for the quality of its advice, asset and discretionary fund management services.”
Prior to Ashcourt Rowan, Polin held senior management positions at Ignis, Aberdeen and HSBC.
He was handed responsibility for all Sanlam’s UK business in December 2015 as group chief executive.
He added: “The integration our private wealth and wealth planning arms is vital to deliver a focused 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.”
