I think the point here should be, is it good for clients? Vertical integration is not something you find when googling tractors, rather the ownership of the means of distribution by a manufacturer. In our business, that’s investment and insurance companies having their own salesmen, rather than trying to persuade we independent advisers that they’re better than others. That’s how it was 30 years ago, in the heyday of the Allied Dunbars and Abbey Lifes. Until now, St James Place has been about the last salesforce standing and making profits that its competitors must envy. So more will return to a business model which they abandoned some 20 years ago. And, in the words of Elton and Simba, the circle of life will revolve.
“Amazon invades financial services with home insurance launch”
Amazon, like Musk, and Branson before them both, can afford to try lots of stuff and fail at some.
