Old Mutual Tees Off With New Sponsorship Deal

Stephen Little

7 March 2014

With sports sponsorships becoming increasingly popular in the financial services industry, London and Johannesburg-listed bank and asset manager has entered into a one-year contract with Sky Sports to sponsor its golf broadcasting.

The deal includes the PGA Tour, European Tour events and World Golf Championship events and launches on 6 March 2014 with branded programme credits supporting the WGC Cadillac Championship, Old Mutual said in a statement.

Carlton Hood, customer solutions director at Old Mutual Wealth, said that building strong brand recognition was important in helping raise awareness of the firm in the UK.

"We believe that broadcast sponsorship is a proven medium of raising awareness and we also know that golf profiles strongly against our target markets, therefore working with Sky Sports on a golf broadcast sponsorship is a very compelling proposition. We look forward to working with Sky and to seeing our brand recognition growing with its association with golf," said Hood.

The move is part of a growing trend of private banks and wealth managers to raise awareness of their brands through sports sponsorship. UBS has long been a major sponsor of F1 racing for example, and in January Mirabaud, the Swiss private banking group, signed a partnership deal with Spindrift racing in a sponsorship that will see the multi-hull sailing team through to 2016.

Other notable deals have included Denmark’s Saxo Bank, which announced its sponsorship of the Lotus Formula 1 racing team in January, and last year, Société Générale Private Banking renewed a two-year sponsorship deal with renowned French player Thomas Levet, winner of the 2011 French Open.

Last month, Old Mutual Wealth, comprising Skandia and Old Mutual Global Investors, announced it had acquired Intrinsic, which it calls the UK’s largest network of restricted and independent financial advisors. The deal is a sign of the kind of industry consolidation happening in the wake of the UK’s Retail Distribution Review.

In its annual results, Old Mutual said it saw strong net client cash flows across the businesses resulting in a 15 per cent profit growth to £1.6 billion($2.67 billion) on a constant currency basis, while in the group’s wealth division, funds under management were up 19 per cent to £293.8 billion.