Openwork said it is now majority-owned by the Openwork Partnership, with its employees retaining a minority shareholding via an employee benefit trust, although exact stakes are yet to be finalised.
Completion of Zurich’s divestment comes about two years earlier than expected after it was first announced in February 2016 that it would divest its stake by March 2020.
In a statement, Openwork said the separation was the successful culmination of a strategy first set out by Zurich when it created Openwork in 2005 from its financial adviser network.
Openwork now has more than 3,600 advisers across its wealth, mortgage, protection and insurance channels, making it one of the UK’s largest financial advice networks.
The firm’s advisers will continue to distribute Zurich’s product in the UK through the network’s best-of-breed panels.
Mark Duckworth, chief executive at Openwork, said: “In February 2016 we announced that partners would become Openwork’s majority shareholder within four years, and we have been working hard to prepare the business for everything that separation entails. The fact we have reached this milestone two years early should give everyone connected to Openwork huge confidence and optimism.”
David White, head of UK retail at Zurich Insurance Company, added: “I am delighted for Mark and his team, and for the LLP, that we have achieved our long-planned separation and Openwork now stands on its own.
“While Zurich will no longer be a shareholder, our relationship will remain strong and we look forward to continuing to provide our market-leading products and services to Openwork advisers and their clients.”
