Our journey started in a small office in Douglas, Isle of Man.
Andy Morgan, Group CEO and Alex Gardner, COO have worked alongside one another for many years. Their relationship initiated when working in the CSP sector as Administrators. They both joined Affinity at mid-level and their personal journeys of progression have mirrored the company’s growth. In recent years, they have both stepped into leadership roles with a focus on driving innovation into Affinity’s brand and diversification into its service offering. The company has become as CSP of choice is multiple sectors, and is expanding into new jurisdictions. Their strategic vision has been fundamental in leading Affinity’s journey and their ambitious nature is propelling the company to success.
Take a look at our journey so far..
We originated in 2004 on the Isle of Man. We started operating in the yachting sector, following the success of the newly formed superyacht register in the Isle of Man.
We began assisting High Net Worth Clients in the superyacht sector with a superior level of service that encompassed exceptional attention to detail.
Our success in yachting led us to diversify into sectors such as Aviation, Property and Trust. We quickly recognised that if we met client expectations we would win and retain business. As a result, many clients that we took on in 2004 are still clients today and they have gone on to do other work with us in our other sectors.
In 2011, we expanded to Malta to offer our clients attractive yachting regimes in a new jurisdiction. A globally leading maritime hub, and a new environment for our clients in the luxury asset sector opened many opportunities; a different VAT and fiscal regime to benefit from, an attractive flag to sail under and a strategic location in Europe. Our expansion to Malta was a huge success and significantly grew our client portfolio.
Our organic growth was flourishing across the Group. Whilst many of our competitors have relied upon business acquisitions as a primary form of growth in recent years, we have focused on healthy organic growth through referrals from a network of trusted intermediaries and existing clients. Our focus has always been on providing excellent service and delivering results.
In 2014, we began to explore niche sectors and establish our position in areas such as eGaming and Fintech. We have achieved unprecedented results across our digital sectors, which has been driven from consistent new business. During this time, our teams have developed expert knowledge on each of our jurisdictions regulatory environments and licensing frameworks.
In 2019, a dynamic and ambitious leadership team, who have worked at Affinity for many years, surged innovation into the brand and harnessed a new strategy to push diversification and exploration into niche and emerging sectors. Our rebrand demonstrates our transition from traditional. Despite this success in new sectors, Yachting remains an integral part of what we do. We are delighted that we recently surpassed over £2 billion of assets under administration.
Our rebrand also focused on placing our team at the forefront of everything we do. This involved investing in our team and a complete renewal of our training, corporate social responsibility, human resources, benefits, and social and wellness initiatives. Our company culture runs on a collaborative environment is based on shared objectives that cultivates empowerment, trust and communication.
In 2021, we expanded to the Cayman Islands to offer our clients opportunities in yachting and fintech. The Cayman Islands accelerates our brand to an international level, and provides our clients with a new location outside of the EU. The jurisdiction boasts many competitive structures and regimes. We have already developed a portfolio of clients in Cayman, and began to explore the fintech sector.
We explored emerging sectors such as esports and sponsored the first esports tournament on the Isle of Man. We regularly attend esports events to develop our knowledge and network in the sector. We began to assist esports clients with corporate structuring.
Our business in eGaming was thriving in the Isle of Man and we began to assist enquiries in Malta. A credible jurisdiction for egaming and global financial centre, Malta provides our clients with the opportunity to access the European market.
In 2021, we won ‘Trust Company of the Year – Isle of Man’ in the Citywealth IFC Awards.
We invested in our CSR and became Brand Ambassadors for Beach Buddies.
We began exploring the Cannabis sector on the Isle of Man and have began working in the sector.
