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Nexus departs Singapore to focus on Middle East

Dubai-headquartered Nexus Group has confirmed to International Adviser that it is to close its Singapore arm, Nexus Financial Services, and focus on its core Middle East operations.

Nexus departs Singapore to focus on Middle East

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The decision was made following a strategic review of operations.

Nexus Group chief executive Tarun Khanna said: “Nexus’s decision to launch into Singapore was based on strong synergies between our offerings in that market, and those in the Middle East.

“After a careful and lengthy review process, all the indications lead Nexus to make the strategic decision to exit the market and concentrate its efforts on those markets where we see greater potential for long-term business growth.”

Singapore market

Nexus Group was founded in the Middle East in 2006 following a management buy-out of the distribution arm of Zurich International Life’s local operations.

In October 2015, it entered the Singapore market when it took over the Zurich Life Insurance (Singapore) financial adviser network.

Nexus Financial Services focused on advising on life, savings and investment products for the city-state’s mass affluent population.

Widely acknowledged as a tough market for advice firms, Khanna told IA during a meeting in November 2017, that the number of advisers in its Singapore business had fallen to around 75 from 135.

The local advice market experiences a lot of churn, which prompted the Monetary Authority of Singapore to introduce guidelines to make it more difficult for advisers to sign up to lucrative employment deals and then quickly move to another advice firm or insurer offering a better contract.

Nexus Financial Services also recently lost its chief executive, Gary Harvey, who left to join SJP.

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