Launch of STM Life Assurance
STM Group PLC
19 March 2008
Press Release 19 March 2008
STM Group Plc
('STM', 'the Company' or 'the Group')
Launch of STM Life Assurance PCC PLC
STM Group Plc (AIM:STM), the cross border financial services provider, is today
pleased to announce the launch of its wholly owned subsidiary, STM Life
Assurance PCC Plc ('STM Life'), which has been granted a licence by the
Gibraltar Financial Services Commission to write Class III, linked long term
life assurance business.
Linked life assurance comprises contracts of insurance, both life and annuity,
where the benefits are determined wholly or partly by reference to the value of
the assets underlying the policy. STM Life has been structured as a protected
cell company, under Gibraltar's Protected Cell Companies Act 2001, so that the
assets of each policy will, under Gibraltar law, be legally separated from the
assets (and any liabilities) of all other insurance contracts that it enters
into.
Gibraltar is part of the UK Member State for EU purposes (unlike the Channel
Islands and the Isle of Man) which means that STM Life will benefit from the
fundamental freedom to provide its financial products and services to the 456
million citizens of the EU's 25 Member States. STM Life will shortly be
applying to 'passport' its services into a number of Member States, which offer
favourable tax treatment to insurance products, starting with the UK.
Linked life policies are frequently funded by a single premium, which can be
paid in cash or by the transfer of an existing portfolio of stocks and shares.
Such policies are frequently referred to in the financial press as 'insurance
wraps' or 'insurance bonds'. Acknowledging the increasingly diverse range of
assets which appeal to High Net Worth Individuals ('HNWIs'), including shares in
private companies, real estate, participation in hedge funds, REITs and EIFs.
STM Life will offer 'open architecture' policies which can hold any asset
considered suitable by STM Life's directors.
STM Life will partner with a number of specialist financial advisers and
insurance and investment intermediaries in the UK (and in due course in other EU
jurisdictions) to offer its insurance products to their clients.
Commenting on the launch of STM Life, Tim Revill, Chief Executive Officer of STM
Group Plc, said: 'This is a very exciting and timely development for the Group.
Insurance products, 'wraps' as they are often known, are becoming an
increasingly important and popular method of protecting and administering the
assets of HNWIs, including those resident, but not domiciled in the UK and their
offshore trustees and expatriates returning to the UK.'
Alan Kentish, CEO of STM Fidecs Insurance Management, which will provide
administration services to STM Life, said: 'The launch of STM Life will
differentiate the Group from most other CTSPs, who are not equipped to offer
their own life assurance products. We anticipate considerable earning
potential, with very low downside risk.'
- Ends -
For further information, please contact:
STM Group Plc
Tim Revill, Chief Executive Officer Tel: 00 350 51610
tim.revill@stmgroupplc.im www.stmgroupplc.com
Daniel Stewart & Company Plc Tel: +44 (0) 20 7776 6550
Lindsay Mair / Stewart Dick www.danielstewart.co.uk
Media enquiries:
Abchurch
Henry Harrison-Topham / Charlie Jack Tel: +44 (0) 20 7398 7706
henry.ht@abchurch-group.com www.abchurch-group.com
Notes to editors
STM was formed in 2007 specifically to become a leading financial services group
operating in the Corporate and Trustee Service Provider (CTSP) sector. The
Company listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in March 2007.
The traditional business of CTSPs is to administer and manage personal, family
and commercial assets and income streams in tax efficient jurisdictions. The
Company's aim is to grow through acquiring and consolidating high quality
existing CTSPs which offer complementary products and services and that operate
in complementary tax efficient jurisdictions to those provided by STM's first
acquisition, the Gibraltar based CTSP, Fidecs Group Limited ('Fidecs').
Fidecs is the second largest financial services firm in Gibraltar and employs
approximately 90 people. It specialises in financial planning for both High
Net Worth individuals ('HNWI') moving to work, living or retiring overseas or
making cross-border investments, and for entrepreneurial, predominantly,
owner-managed businesses, expanding into or re-locating to other, frequently
lower tax, jurisdictions. It also includes an insurance management division,
specialising in providing set up and management services to newly formed
insurance companies operating out of Gibraltar.
In the maiden period from 1 February 2007 to 31 December 2007 (in which there
were 9 months of trading), STM Group reported turnover of £5.3 million with post
tax profit of £1.65 million.
In June and August 2007, STM acquired two Gibraltar based CTS providers, the
Atlas Group of companies and Parliament Corporate Services Limited. These two
acquisitions further consolidated STM's leading position in Gibraltar.
Parliament has an established client base which, as at 31 December 2007, was
made up of 272 companies and 112 trusts and Atlas 65 companies and 30 trusts.
In December 2007, STM made its first strategic acquisition within the Channel
Islands when it acquired Jersey-based Compagnie Fiduciaire Trustees Limited
which comprised 23 trusts, holding in some cases sizeable investment portfolios.
The CTSP market is fragmented in nature, comprising a small number of very large
international financial services groups and a large number of relatively small
trust and company management businesses regulated by, and operating out of, a
single jurisdiction.
Further information on STM Group can be found at www.stmgroupplc.com
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange