In Person: Ian Donaldson, CEO of Atlanta Group

Great Expectations: The self-made broker talks about his billion pound ambitions, lifts the lid on the Swinton deal and considers his Ardonagh bosses.

Autonet bought Carole Nash in 2017 and Swinton in 2018. Donaldson reveals it was David Ross who highlighted the potential of the Swinton deal and as a group the management team decided to go for it as there were lots of synergies including both Atlanta and Swinton using CDL.

Remarking on the strength of the other brand he joked: “It was like getting my own meerkat.”

Forget the past because it has all been done in the right way and the people have been looked after. Under my tenure and theirs, I would only speak highly of what they [Swinton] did

Prior to the deal Swinton was on a bumpy road with branch closures and redundancies and it was Atlanta’s role to implement some of this.

“We were at the tail end of what was going on.

“All branches are closed, sold or leasehold passed on. Retention has improved eight or nine points. The staff were important and we wanted to make sure they had opportunities when the branches closed.

“Atlanta offered CV writing and skills workshops.”

“Forget the past because it has all been done in the right way and the people have been looked after. Under my tenure and theirs, I would only speak highly of what they did,” he insists.

Donaldson is bullish on the current performance and says Atlanta has arrested the decline in Swinton and all of its products will soon be available to quote and buy online, achieving motor growth and growing Swinton bike and caravan. “They were closing 100,000 policies a year and we’ve stopped that,” he details.

“The brand is phenomenal,” he adds.

Atlanta also bought the Ageas call centre in Stoke-on-Trent which was set to close last year with Donaldson citing that if good staff are available and the geography is right and it works for the business then he would be interested.

For his part Donaldson is always keen to create an “in this together” culture for the teams across Atlanta. He fosters this in a variety of ways and pushes a work hard/play hard attitude and encourages staff to get their insurance qualifications and progress.

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