Lighthouse Group appoints Head of Training

Lighthouse Group plc

('Lighthouse' or 'the Group' or 'the Company')

Lighthouse Group appoints Head of Training

Lighthouse Group, the largest listed UK IFA advisory business, is pleased to announce that it has appointed Ian James as Head of Group Training, with effect from 10 December 2012. Ian brings to the Group considerable training and financial services experience and will be responsible for developing the Lighthouse Financial Advice Academy for new advisers based at the Group's offices in Brighton. Ian joins Lighthouse from Sesame Bankhall Group, where he was Principal of the Financial Adviser School.

Ian's role will be as a member of the Lighthouse Financial Advice ("LFA") senior management team, where he will be responsible for all new adviser training and induction. He will also be responsible for developing the training regime for the wider Group.

This announcement follows the Group's recent expansion with the opening of an office in Brighton in September 2012, to support the further growth of LFA. The newly opened Brighton office is dedicated to lead generation, event organisation and support teams who serve the growing base of professional financial advisers based throughout the UK. To accommodate the number of financial advisers joining the Group, the new premises also includes an adviser training centre.

The appointment also builds upon the recent success that the Group has had securing contracts to provide financial advice to affinity groups, including current and former employees of BA Clubs, the Royal College of Nursing, members of the Baker, Food and Allied Workers Union as well as a renewal of a three year contract with the Association of School and College Leaders. These contracts further strengthen the Company's position as a major provider of financial advice to members of the UK's largest affinity groups, including UNISON and the Civil Service Motoring Association, the Group has 18 large affinity connections in total.

As announced at Lighthouse's Interim Results in September 2012, the Group has embarked upon an aggressive growth strategy, aiming to double the number of advisers in its whole-of-market national proposition, LFA. The aim to grow this division of the Group's business to 500 advisers by July 2015 will be supported by today's appointment and Ian's team working to develop the most targeted and relevant training for the Group's advisers.

Malcolm Streatfield, CEO of Lighthouse Group, commented: "The appointment of Ian underpins the strong growth of Lighthouse Financial Advice. The Group has made significant investment in technology and its new office in Brighton which offers support to our professional advisers across the country, and this appointment demonstrates Lighthouse's commitment to providing high quality training and support to its advisers.

"The Group continues to make progress across the business, in particular with its affinity relationships, and the Board is delighted to welcome Ian to the Lighthouse team to drive our training programmes and support our National (LFA), our Network (LASER) and our specialist service divisions."

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