SimplyBiz has announced that over 200 adviser firms have joined the group during the first six months of 2014.
In the first half of the year, over 500 individual advisers have chosen SimplyBiz as their service and compliance provider, more than 50% of whom joined direct from networks.
This has made this year the group’s most successful start to a year since 2008.
Matt Timmins, joint managing director of the SimplyBiz Group, said: “SimplyBiz has continued to go from strength to strength in a post-RDR world and this is testament to the work we undertook to help the firms we serve to operate successfully in the new world.
“It is no surprise that a substantial number of these firms are making the decision to move from appointed representative status to directly regulated, as we know from experience that many ARs are being pushed towards operating models they would not have chosen for themselves. It is therefore natural that that these firms, both big and small, independent and restricted are looking to take control of their own destinies by becoming directly authorised.
“The SimplyBiz Group places the needs of the firms we serve at the heart of every decision we make about our proposition and services, and I believe this is why we have continued to retain and attract businesses at such a strong rate. We serve both independent and restricted firms, but importantly we do not dictate to restricted advisers how they select the relevant market and the products and providers they choose to deal with.”
SimplyBiz group chairman, Ken Davy, added: “2014 has been a tremendous year so far for the whole of the SimplyBiz Group. In addition to the excellent rate of growth experienced by SimplyBiz and Compliance First, other elements of the group, including mortgages and auto-enrolment, have also had a really strong start to the year.
“Staffcare’s employee client based has grown exponentially, from 250,000 to over 600,000, since they joined the group in December whilst other divisions of the group have also continued to flourish.
“Any success that the group experiences is a reflection on not only our skilled and experienced specialist staff but also the 5000+advisers, brokers and specialists who choose to use our services.”
