Norwich
A little bit about Norwich...
Although the Alan Boswell Group now has clients spread throughout the United Kingdom (and some expatriates) we are proud of our heritage and remain very much a Norwich-based business. Our head office is situated close to the commercial heart of Norwich (NR1) and we are one of the largest regional independent financial services businesses in Norfolk.
Norwich itself is a thriving centre for financial services; the birthplace of Barclays Bank and famous as the home of the UK's largest insurance company, Aviva. In addition to the connection with Aviva, other UK insurers and financial institutions have branches or regional offices in the city.
Consequently, a large proportion of Norwich's workforce is employed in the financial industry. Recent years have seen firms such as Virgin One moving into the area - attracted to Norwich by the availability of a skilled workforce.
In late 2006, Norwich's importance as an insurance and financial services centre was reinforced by the announcement that the Business School at Norwich City College was to become a Centre of Vocational Excellence in Accountancy and Financial Services. Many of our staff members were educated at Norwich City College and others continue to attend courses there. The College works with the UEA, Norwich and Norfolk Financial Industry Group and local employers to develop and improve skills in the sector. A range of industry-specific courses are offered including finance, insurance and mortgages.
Much of the growth in our client base has been organic and it is therefore inevitable that a high proportion of our clients are Norwich-based or have their roots in the surrounding counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.
Many of our local corporate clients have grown with us over the past 25 years or so: becoming strong, successful businesses both within East Anglia and nationally. In some respects our growth has mirrored that of our long-standing business clients. As we have developed we have expanded the range of services we offer to include more specialist areas such as risk management and employee benefits.
Alan Boswell Group has always been involved in local networks and insurance broking initiatives and in 1999 we aligned ourselves with other leading insurance intermediaries and financial advisers from East Anglia to form the Eastern Alliance. The Eastern Alliance is a made up of seven East Anglian insurance firms - from Norwich, Ipswich, Cambridge, Peterborough and Essex.
We try to maintain strong links with the local community through selective sponsorship arrangements. Our emphasis tends to be on supporting local sport and over the years we are proud to have been associated with events as diverse as rugby, ladies bowls and the British Touring Car Championships.