Swinton acquires Moneyway branches

Moneyway has sealed a multi-million-pound deal with Swinton as it looks to cement its place as a specialist niche within the financial sector.

As part of the deal, 13 of the 19 existing Moneyway branches will be rebranded as Swinton, two will merge with Swinton branches and four branches in Cannock. Manchester, Kings Heath and Coventry will remain in operation focus on core propositions.

Moneyway said it has refined its business strategy after spending 18 months evaluating the strengths of the business as well as negotiations, which include Swinton providing insurance for its OneBill customers.

Gary Jennison, CEO, said: “We have spent a considerable time establishing how to progress Moneyway and capitalise on the very particular relationship which we have with our customers, and as such we have decided to develop those three core propositions.

"Therefore, we are delighted to announce that we have struck a deal with Swinton whereby they will acquire our insurance branch network allowing us to concentrate on our core propositions.”

Moneyway is owned by Secure Trust Bank Plc, which has been operating in the Midlands for the past five decades.

Jennison added: “Insurance has become a massively competitive industry and to be competitive on the high street is not easy. As a local broker we feel we are increasingly unable to offer the best deals to customers on every occasion - and that is absolutely against our brand values."

“For some time we have been looking to work with a partner who can take over the insurance branch network and also to be our general insurance provider in future. Not only have we found such a company but they are also the largest insurance retailer on the high street today.”

“Swinton are easily one of the most competitive insurance retailers in the marketplace and as we have in excess of 28,000 insurance customers, we need to know they are in the right hands. Not only that, but we will also continue to offer our OneBill customer a range of insurance products, many of which will be delivered by Swinton.”

He concluded: “We are delighted that the majority of our branch staff will be joining Swinton so that our customers will still be dealing with the same faces.

“This is a really important step for us and shows that if we cannot offer our customers sufficiently competitive products ourselves, then we will find strategic partners who can deliver those products for us.”