What about any overlaps with respective advisers?
There is a degree of overlap between the adviser firms that both companies deal with, however not as much as one would expect.
Canada Life has traditionally been successful in the private banking and retail space. LGII has been particularly successful with discretionary fund management advisory firms, an area of the market Canada Life was looking to further target through its presence in Dublin. The relationships that exist within each company are therefore broadly complementary.
How will the management team structure of LGII and Canada Life International work?
Mark Armstrong, who has been the managing director of CLIA in Dublin, will return from secondment to a strategic role based on the Isle of Man. The previous MD of LGII, Karl Shaw, has also returned to the L&G Group.
Tom Kenny, LGII’s CFO, is now leading the combined business in Dublin as managing director, reporting to me. Tom has his own management team in Dublin and is now part of my executive management team, which has been strengthened over the past 12 months with the appointments of Graeme Easton as CFO and Jonathan Hall as head of compliance and risk, and company secretary.
How important is Dublin as a jurisdiction, given Canada Life International’s new HQ is in the Isle of Man?
Dublin is absolutely central to our future success, otherwise we would not have set up there in 2013 or acquired LGII. To be a long-term leader in the UK offshore bond market, providers need to offer choice to advisers – and this includes a choice of jurisdiction.
Our experience is that most advisers will have a mix of client preferences. Some may favour Dublin’s VAT treatment on discretionary fund management services, whereas others may favour the strength and transparency of the Isle of Man’s policyholder protection scheme. A provider that can only offer one jurisdiction offers a fairly limited proposition in today’s demanding market.
Our Isle of Man business is much larger than in Dublin, simply because it has been in operation for over 28 years, so it is misleading to view it as the headquarters for our combined international business. The new building on the Isle of Man was necessary because of our rapid growth. Our ambition through the LGII acquisition is to grow a similar size of business in Dublin over the coming years.
What will be the new name of the Dublin business and where in the city will it be located?
The new company is Canada Life International Assurance (Ireland), based in Dublin’s Abbey Street.
