Tributes pour in for Friends Prov UK MD Simon Clamp

Friends Provident's UK managing director, Simon Clamp, died early this morning following a short illness.

Clamp joined Friends Provident as director of IFA operations in 2002 from Aegon Scottish Equitable, where he had been sales development director for 13 years.

He became director of UK distribution in 2004, before taking on the role of managing director in 2005. He was also director of Sesame Bankhall Group and Pantheon Financial.

Trevor Matthews, CEO of Friends Provident, says: "The speed at which Simon's health deteriorated has come as a complete shock to us all.

"He was a terrific colleague, valued member of my management team as well as a personal friend of mine and we will miss him greatly. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Sheila and son Freddie at this sad time."

Aegon UK chief executive Otto Thoresen adds: "Simon was an outstanding sales professional who was well known in the industry for his strategic thinking and ability to engage with the top level decision makers in intermediary firms.

"He also had the foresight to recognise the benefits in developing long-term partnerships with adviser groups rather than focusing purely on short-term business needs.

"Simon will be greatly missed by all who knew and had the pleasure of working with him. Our sympathies go to his family, friends and colleagues at this sad time."

Sesame Bankhall executive chairman, Ivan Martin, says Clamp "represented all that is valued in our business, [he was] honesty and integrity personified".

"There are very few people in our industry who didn't know Simon," he says. "I was privileged to know him for many years."

Maggie Craig, director of life and savings at the ABI, says: "Simon will be greatly missed by all who knew him throughout the industry on both a personal and a professional level.

"He made an outstanding contribution to the industry, most recently with his work on the RDR, and he did it all with great humility and a sense of humour. Our deepest sympathies go out to Simon's family at this incredibly difficult time."

Earlier this month, Friends appointed ex-Lloyds Wealth Management boss Nathan Moss as interim managing director during Clamp's absence.

From all at IFAonline we would also like to pass our condolences on to Simon's family and Friends Provident. Simon has always been a great help to our journalists here and his enthusiasm for the IFA industry made all our conversations with him enjoyable as well as informative.