MBS Insurance takes stake in risk advisory practice

Risk advice and insurance specialist, MBS Insurance, has announced it has taken a minority stake in boutique advisory, Orbital Life, in the effort to broaden its reach in providing access to quality insurance advice.

The strategic partnershp will see Orbital Life leverage MBS’ business support capabilities across compliance, paraplanning and claims management; gain access to the firm’s core operational infrastructure including its Salesforce-powered client data platform; and fall under its Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL), MBS Advice Licence.

MBS partner and joint chief executive, Drew Burden, said the Orbital Life team would help support MBS’ relationships with both existing and new clients.

“We have grown by bringing on new advisers, training and mentoring professional year candidates, and establishing joint venture relationships with advice firms but, adjacent to that, we’ve invested heavily in our systems, processes and technology to drive efficiencies and make ourselves an attractive strategic partner to high quality businesses like Orbital Life,” he said.

“The need for life insurance advice is increasing but the number of risk specialists is shrinking so we’re exploring every opportunity to improve access to quality risk advice. There is a huge market to serve but we can’t do it alone and we’re better together than working in isolation.”

First founded in 2018 by Nick Fanto, Sydney-based Orbital Life brings a team of nine members and over $15 million of premium under advice from currently active policies. Fanto, who is also the managing director, said the partnership forms the first step in Orbital Life’s plans for growth over the next few years.

“We’ve grown significantly since our inception but, over time, we started to outgrow our systems and processes, and we recognised that we needed a strategic partner to help us to continue delivering exceptional service and advice,” he said.

“MBS is a natural fit and their offering is everything that we were looking for to supercharge growth and achieve our ambitious goals.

“From a business perspective, the most important factor was a strong risk management culture but, as an individual who has been running my own business for many years, I wanted a partner and community that shared my ambitions and could support me, and who I could also support, to succeed.”

“I wanted a partner who is just as invested in our personal growth as in our business growth.”