The company, which is ironically in a Takapuna building which once housed Sovereign’s marketing team, has four ex-Sovereign people and two independent directors.
The ex-Sovereign people are Chris and Richard Coon, Ian Hendry and Paul Bravo. The company is chaired by superannuation consultant Boyd Klap and Nelson-based chartered accountant Bronwyn Monopoli is the other independent director.
Sentinel is planning to roll out its Lifetime Loan and a prepaid funeral plan in early February.
It plans to target financial planners and investment advisers initially with roadshows throughout the country (dates will be in Good Returns diary soon).
Bravo says the idea for the home equity release scheme came from Chris Coon, and he has been working on the details for a couple of years.
The company has arranged for funding from Sovereign’s ultimate parent company, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
While the company planned to roll the product out to mortgage brokers first it has now decided to target financial planners.
Bravo says a product like this “adds another string to their bow.”
He says these are the first two products from Sentinel. It has aspirations to grow its presence in the market and is looking at something in the health area, plus term deposit bonds (an area where Sovereign has done well in the past).
Sentinel is currently in the process of expanding its shareholder base. Bravo says 50-60 people, many of whom were early supporters of Sovereign, have been invited to become shareholders in the company.
Management will own about 85% of the company when this process is completed.
Currently the only other provider in the market with this type of product is SAI Life.
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