Sir Mark Weinberg | |
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Born |
Mark Aubrey Weinberg 9 August 1931 South Africa |
Residence | Cole Park, near Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England |
Nationality | British |
Education | King Edward VII School, Johannesburg |
Alma mater | London School of Economics |
Occupation | financier |
Known for | founder, Abbey Life and Allied Dunbar |
Title | President, St. James's Place plc |
Spouse(s) | Anouska Hempel |
Children | 4 |
Sir Mark Aubrey Weinberg (born 9 August 1931) is a South African British financier.
Weinberg was born in South Africa and educated at King Edward VII School in Johannesburg. He received degrees in commerce and law from University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa and practised as a barrister. He later received his Master of Laws at the London School of Economics, specialising in company law and wrote the book Takeovers and Mergers whilst at the London School of Economics.
In 1961 he founded Abbey Life Assurance Company in London, which was one of the first companies to develop unit-linked assurance and where he formed one of the UK’s first retail property funds.
In 1971 he went on to found Hambro Life Assurance, subsequently called Allied Dunbar, where he was managing director until 1983 (it is now part of Zurich Financial Services), and grew the corporation to become the largest unit-linked life assurance company in the UK, operating successfully in the insurance broker market as well as building up a large sales force. There he formed the first retail managed fund and originated the concept of the variable premium whole life policy.
He was knighted in the 1987 New Year's Honours List.
Today, he is now the president of St. James's Place plc, which he co-founded with Mike Wilson and Lord Rothschild (as J Rothschild Assurance) in 1991. He is also Chairman of the investment committee at St. James's Place.
In 2006, he became the executive chairman of Synergy Insurance Services, an innovative corporate insurance company.
Additionally, he is the chairman of the Pension Insurance Corporation, a company set up in 2005 to provide insurance solutions for pension scheme management, in particular for defined benefit corporate pension schemes.
He was deputy chairman of the principal UK regulatory body, the Securities and Investment Board, from its inception in 1985 until 1990, having been an adviser on insurance affairs to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.