Key Retirement Group appoints Steve Groves as chairman

Groves has over 20 years’ experience within the insurance and retirement sectors, leading Partnership Assurance, later Partnership Plc, where he progressed to group chief executive.

Key Retirement Group appoints Steve Groves as chairman

Key Retirement Group has appointed Steve Groves as chairman after its£208m acquisition by global private markets investment manager Partners Grouplast year.

Groves has over 20 years’ experience within the insurance and retirement sectors, leading Partnership Assurance, later Partnership Plc, where he progressed to group chief executive.

Simon Thompson, chief executive of Key Retirement Group, said:“We are delighted that Steve has agreed to join Key Retirement Group as his customer focused ethos and track record fit perfectly with our plans for the future.

“His wealth of experience in the retirement sector and in successfully growing specialist businesses will be a major asset for Key as we deliver our expansion strategy.

“We are also delighted that David Young, with whom we have worked so closely over the past four years, is to continue in his Non-Executive role providing good continuity for the business.”

Groves will be responsible for driving continued distribution growth, broadening thegroup’s product portfolio, fostering further product innovation. He will also ensure housing equity and ways of unlocking that equity continue their development into mainstream financial planning and mortgage propositions.

In the five years before the group’s flotation he led a major expansion of the business, resulting in sales growth of 400%.

He remainedgroup CEO and continued in the role during the merger with Just Retirement in August 2015, before leaving the business in 2016.

Grovesadded:“I know Key Retirement Group well having worked previously with them as a major business partner and I look forward to working with Simon and the team to build on the relationships and knowledge both they and I have from the past two decades in this sector to help serve existing and new customers.

“The acquisition by Partners Group means Key is poised to grow substantially and I look forward to working with the team and being part of the growth over the coming years.”