It was announced on Friday that most of TOWER’s life insurance business had been sold to Fidelity for $189 million, as a combination of cash and capital release.

The deal is expected to settle in a couple of months.

TOWER managing director Rob Flannagan said yesterday that Fidelity would be taking only 62 of the life insurance company’s 100 staff. Those who were not being hired by Fidelity were primarily TOWER’s salaried sales force.

Flannagan said TOWER would try to find roles for them in the general business.

He said Fidelity Life’s focus on the independent broker network meant that there was no place for in-house sales staff. TOWER had offered direct life insurance sales, which Fidelity does not.

But the 37 advisers who are part of Tower Financial Advisory Services will transfer to Fidelity Life because their contracts are part of the business. Fidelity chief executive Milton Jennings said it would be his company’s first experience of working with a tied broker force

He said he expected things would be improved for TFAS advisers. They have gone through a series of upheavals as the arms of the TOWER business were sold off.

Fidelity Life’s chief executive Milton Jennings said all of TOWER’s life insurance products would be retired, although some benefits would be absorbed into Fidelity’s offerings.  “There won’t be anything that they were trying to sell before that won’t be in our range.”

Brokers had previously complained that TOWER was not investing enough in developing its life insurance offerings.

Jennings said Fidelity would work on improving its range and would offer brokers more resources and better service and value.

Efforts had been made to take as many staff from TOWER as possible. But he  said Fidelity had a history of working with independent financial advisers and saw no reason to change that. “I think the more narrow the focus, the better you do it. I believe advisers are still a vibrant distribution channel. We’ve always had a culture of dealing through advisers and see no reason to change it.”