Openwork

The Openwork network is a financial advice businesses in the UK. Its history goes back to Allied Dunbar, which grew out of Hambro Life in the mid-1980s. Allied Dunbar acquired Hill Samuel’s direct sales force in 1994, and, subsequently, Abbey Life’s top 1,000 advisers in 2000.

In the same year Allied Dunbar’s parent company, British American Financial Services, was bought by Zurich, which launched The Franchise Network. This changed its name to Zurich Advice Network (ZAN) in 2001, before becoming Openwork four years later. In 2008 Openwork launched an investment company: Omnis Investments.

The Openwork network added more than 450 advisers to its ranks in 2016, according to its annual results published in June 2017. Adviser numbers grew from 2,749 in 2015 to 3,203 in 2016, an increase of 16 per cent. The network reported an increase in revenue from £253.2m to £283.4m. Profit before tax reached £9.2m, up from £3.3m in 2015. Assets under management in the Omnis fund management business exceeded £4bn and platform assets stood at £4.6bn. In August 2017, Money Marketing reported that Openwork had passed the 3,500-adviser mark. The 3,521 number was an increase of 17 per cent on 2016, and adviser numbers were up in both Openwork and protection-only subsidiary Owl Financial.

In August 2017, Openwork’s fund range Omnis Investments had £5bn in funds under management. Omnis, only available to Openwork Advisers, was managed by companies including Baillie Gifford, Jupiter, Schroders and Woodford Investment Management. It included 10 single strategy funds.

Openwork launched two new funds for adviser network in November 2017. Available from 5 December initially through the firm’s newly launched model portfolios, the Omnis Strategic Bond fund was to be run by Fidelity International veteran bond manager Ian Spreadbury and co-managers Claudio Ferrarese and Tim Foster. It had a charge of 0.5 per cent, excluding advice fees. The Omnis UK Equity Income fund was to be managed by Martin Cholwill at Royal London Asset Management to sit alongside the existing Omnis UK Equity and Income & Growth funds in the portfolios. It carried a 0.65 per cent charge.