L to R: Drew Burden & Nick Fanto

Risk insurance specialist, MBS Insurance (MBS) has acquired a minority interest in boutique risk advisory firm, Orbital Life, demonstrating the breadth and depth of the group’s offer to professional advisory firms, and passion to see more Australians gain access to quality insurance advice.

Drew Burden, partner and joint chief executive officer of MBS, said Orbital Life brought additional professionalism, energy and a sharp focus on growth to MBS’ burgeoning community.

“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. ”

Established in 2018 and based in Sydney, Orbital Life has nine employees, including two risk advisers and a provisional adviser. The group has over $15 million of in-force premium under advice.

Nick Fanto, founder and managing director, Orbital Life, said the business had ambitious plans to double in size over the next two-to-three years by increasing its capacity through recruiting and developing advisers, and driving operational and cost efficiencies.

“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. ”

Under the deal, Orbital Life will leverage MBS’s operational infrastructure, including its bespoke Salesforce client-database platform, and business support team, spanning compliance, paraplanning and claims management.

It will also join MBS’s Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL), MBS Advice Licence. Fanto said MBS stood out for several reasons including its risk insurance specialisation, robust governance and compliance framework, and strong alignment with Orbital Life’s mission, values and 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, ” he said.

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

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