About Aligned Brokers Countywide
Aligned Brokers Countrywide was incorporated in 1998 & commenced trading in mid-1999. Established to take advantage of the changing business environment for Independent Financial Adviser (IFA's), particularly in the run up to the implementation of compliance procedures under the industry's new regulatory body, the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority (now known as the Financial Regulator).
The Company was ahead of its time, & still is, as the only Life & General insurance network in the country. This is an amalgamation of independent brokers that have come together to centralise back office activities.
The concept has been developed in numerous other countries & more relevantly in the U.K., which, post regulation saw a huge rise in the proliferation & success of networks. Irish regulations are very similar & are based on the U.K. model.
However, ABC has taken the idea a step further, by incorporating General Insurance into the range of agencies held, & also mortgages. This means that ABC can offer General Insurance & mortgage facilities to the Life Broker, & a Life & mortgage arm to the General Broker.
The one & two man IFA Companies are finding the compliance requirements on top of the normal administrative chores associated with the industry, an increasing burden on their activities. This leaves them with less time for business development & client servicing, which traditionally has always been the mainstay of any independent advisor's profession. It is therefore attractive, for these IFA's to join a network that will handle the administration & compliance procedures on their behalf thus allowing them more "selling time".
The second advantage, is that by pooling the purchasing & negotiating power of IFA's, ABC can provide better value for the client, higher remuneration for the Broker while helping to reduce operating costs. Brokers also realise the benefits of having an intermediary between them & the insurance companies to negotiate better rates & commission structures. In the U.K., the Compliance Authority favours the network concept as it places a further checkpoint in the system & we believe that the Financial Regulator will also take this view. The network now numbers 35 brokers & handles over €750k worth of renewal General & Life premium business annually & over €12m worth of residential & commercial mortgages annually.