Sesame Bankhall Group’s executive chairman Ivan Martin is leaving after six years with the group.

George Higginson will continue in his role as CEO. He joined SBG as chief operating officer in January 2011 and was appointed to the newly-created role of CEO in November 2011.

Current senior independent director of the SBG Board, John Cowan, will act as chairman.

Martin said: “It was always my intention to step away from leading the business, which is why we appointed George as CEO in 2011. Now is the right time to complete this transition and for me to step down and focus on other business interests.

“I would like to thank the people that make up the Sesame Bankhall Group for their hard work and contribution to the development of the group during that time.”

Higginson said: “On behalf of the group I would like to thank Ivan for his important contribution to the success of Sesame Bankhall Group over the last six years and we wish him well for the future.

“Sesame Bankhall Group’s performance in 2012 demonstrates the positive progress that has been made over that time, with Sesame Bankhall Group evolving into a broadly-based financial services group, offering advisers and their customers greater value and support than ever before. This has enabled both our business and thousands of advisers to operate successfully through these challenging times and we look forward to continuing to build on our strong market-leading position in the future.”