Page 40 - ASCOT GROUP COMPLETE DOCUMENT (2)

Background

With a number of prominent offshore/international life insurance companies pulling out of many
markets the majority of introducers, particularly expatriate financial advisory firms, are limited in their
ability to act independently and provide an array of different investment solutions from a number of
product providers. As the majority of these firms are familiar and comfortable with Isle of Man based
life companies and the structure of their products, this puts Ascot Group in a prime position to
capitalise and fill this void.

At the same time an inexorable growth in online retail behaviour across all markets is driving a
revolution in client expectations that is fundamentally challenging the existing financial services
marketplace to modernise or fail. Clients now demand readily available information in respect of their
investments by means of a secure, simple, easily navigated online capability. We believe there is an
opportunity for a new financial services group to attract a significant proportion of the international
insurance and fund management market, taking advantage of this.

Traditional methods of buying insurance products with an investment adviser still have a place, given
the inherent difficulty for a client to make an informed decision as to which product best meets their
needs, and this will continue. Our portal will enable a client to apply for their policy whether the
adviser is in the room with them, or on the end of a telephone, or on a video/skype link. Historically a
number of clients have been forced to travel to meet with their advisers in specific jurisdictions, and
this can now be avoided, saving both time and money for both.

Having applied, both adviser and client now demand the effective usage of technology to enable the
new business process and subsequent servicing to be as effortless as possible.

Established financial services groups, in particular insurers, are subject to widespread modernisation
inertia due to long established back-books being maintained on ageing systems totally unsuited to
current and future client demands by reason of cost and complexity. As a result, a number have
withdrawn from the market, with others inevitably likely to follow, creating new opportunities. As a
result, the opportunity to meet these demands is compelling for a new player, unfettered by history,
flexible, quick to react to changing market conditions by fully embracing leading-edge internet
technology, to interact in a contemporary style, and subject to the highest standards of regulation and
probity.