New dealer group launched

A new dealer group has hit the market, and it's on the lookout for advisers who are searching for an alternative to the traditional offerings.

Affinia is a new risk-specialist dealer group, and its parent company TAL has bold plans to make it the leading dealer network in the market for risk specialists.

“From talking to risk specialists around the country, we know there are many advisers out there who feel left out in the cold by the traditional dealer groups. They’re fed up of being the poor relation of their wealth management cousins, and bored by the same-sameness of most dealer groups,” said Affinia head Craig Parker.

“We want to shake things up. We’ve designed Affinia from scratch based on adviser feedback about what’s important to them so we can stand out in a market which offers little differentiation or specific tools and support for the true risk specialist. Affinia will be the natural home for advisers who are as passionate about life insurance as TAL is.”

Features that Parker believes will be attractive to the risk-specialist advisers include a flat fee structure and commissions that are paid weekly. Affinia will also offer:

• underwriting pre-assessment services;
• business planning and legal services; and
• marketing support for advisers.

“As Affinia is backed by TAL, the largest life insurance specialist, we believe we can be more flexible and responsive to advisers’ wants and needs than a traditional dealer group,” said Parker. “Our goal is to create a community where advisers can have a say in how products and services are developed.

“Affinia’s unashamed ambition is to the number one choice for advisers specialising in life insurance.”

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