Protection challenger Guardian has outlined its adviser strategy for 2025.
It includes “deepening quality relationships” with advisers and firms alike to deliver good customer outcomes.
The strategy was unveiled today (21 October) by Guardian executive chairman and interim CEO, Peter Mann.
It also sets out plans to move into the next phase of the insurer’s journey.
Guardian said it spent the last six years concentrating efforts on rapid growth through the launch of new products and growing its distribution footprint in the UK.
Its products, designed to give customers certainty at point of claim, are now available on all the major advised protection panels.
Mann said: “Now our business is maturing, and mindful of the current macroeconomic headwinds, it’s the right time to move away from a focus on rapid scale, to one of consolidation.
“We still intend to grow and to buck the current overall trend of falling protection sales. However, there’s also significant value to unlock from the distribution footprint and product set we’ve built.
“The strategy we’ve laid out for 2025 will focus on maximising value while we continue to deliver great outcomes for customers and great service for advisers.”
Last month, Guardian chief executive Katya MacLean left the business after five years at the helm.
Mann has taken over the CEO role on an interim basis while the recruitment process to replace MacLean takes place.
Meanwhile, Guardian’s marketing and proposition director Jacqui Gillies has announced that she’s leaving the company and the insurance industry after 42 years.
Gillies joined the company in 2016 and was part of the team that brought Guardian to market two years later.
She has been the driving force behind the brand that advisers know today, as well as its two most recent product launches.
Gillies plans to leave at the end of December and her direct reports – head of marketing, Rachael Welsh, and head of proposition, Jo Penrose – will report into Hilary Banks, Guardian’s commercial director.
Commenting on her departure, Gillies said: “It’s been an absolute privilege to have been part of Guardian’s hugely exciting journey, from launching the brand back in 2018, to developing our income protection and life essentials propositions to bolster Guardian’s menu and provide greater choice for advisers and their clients.
“It’s been an honour to see first-hand, as we’ve grown, how our innovative approach has helped so many customers.
“When I first joined the team, I had no intention of staying so long and no idea of how far we would come.
“After eight years with Guardian and a 42-year career in financial services, which incidentally started at Guardian in 1982 when it was known as GRE, I’m ready to let the team take on this new strategy for 2025.”
