Argent’s History.
Our roots in the Insurance and Financial Services Industry go back almost 50 years to 1962, and during this time the changes that have taken place have been so far-reaching that our industry is unrecogniseable from that early period.
In those days the Company was known as MW Insurance Brokers Ltd named after its founder Richard Mainwaring-White. Originally based in Maidenhead MW moved to the City in October 1978
Meanwhile In January 1977 – and in deepest Surrey – Peter Andrews was founding Argent Insurance Services Ltd.
Both companies dealt with General Insurances as well as advising and placing Life Assurance, Pensions and Investments. Business success resulted in significant expansion with Steve Hollis and Simon Callaghan joining MW in 1978 and 1982 respectively, and Andy Rzysko joining Argent in 1982.
Fourteen years of continuing progress for both companies followed – based on a philosophy of client service and strong technical knowledge. During that time Nigel Newlyn and Tony Wright joined MW.
In 1996 and following the retirement of Richard Mainwaring-White, both companies anticipated another period of change for the industry and – independently – came to the conclusion that in order to continue to succeed, “size mattered”. Both companies embarked on a process to look for a suitable partner that would “fit” in terms of the type of business that was transacted and – more importantly the philosophy in dealing with clients. It was not long before MW and Argent recognised those talents in one another and in May 1996 the companies merged to form the Argent Broking Group Ltd.
In 1999 the expansion of the Employee Benefits part of the business led to the formation of Argent Employee Benefits Ltd – run by Andrew Cousins who had joined us for that purpose.
Soon after it became clear that the requirements of General Insurance Broking and Employee Benefits and Investment business were diverging, and with the retirement of Peter Andrews in 2003, Argent Personal Finance Managers Ltd (which incorporated Argent Employee benefits Ltd) demerged from Argent Broking Group Ltd and became a dedicated Wealth Manager and Employee Benefits consultancy. The culmination of all this was approval by the FSA in 2007 allowing Argent to manage client’s investments on a discretionary basis. Our Fully Managed service is the flagship of our activities and currently holds over £140 million of client monies under discretionary management (March 2012).
The company you see before you today is still run by some of those who were involved in those early days (Simon, Steve and Andy) supplemented more recently, and – they would say – more effectively by Nigel and Andrew. We are proud that despite all the industry changes which resulted in so many business casualties over the years, we have retained a consistent and sure-footed management approach that has ensured that our business continues to thrive.
Have Your Say
Please help us improve our service by sparing a few minutes to review our performance
