Senior independent director of the SBG board, John Cowan, will act as chairman on an interim basis until a non-executive chairman is appointed.
Martin (pictued) joined Sesame as chairman in 2007, becoming chairman of SBG in 2009 after the acquisition of the group’s mortgage business.
“It was always my intention to step away from leading the business, which is why we appointed George [Higginson] as CEO in 2011,” he said.
“Now is the right time to complete this transition and for me to step down and focus on other business interests.”
Higginson, who joined SBG as chief operating officer in January 2011 and was appointed to the newly-created role of CEO in November 2011, will take over the running of the business.
“Sesame Bankhall Group’s performance in 2012 demonstrates the positive progress that has been made over that time, with SBG evolving into a broadly-based financial services group, offering advisers and their customers greater value and support than ever before,” he said.
“This has enabled both our business and thousands of advisers to operate successfully through these challenging times and we look forward to continuing to build on our strong market-leading position in the future.”
In February, parent company Friends Life put SBG up for sale, with Barclays Investment Bank tasked with finding potential buyers.
The firm, the UK’s largest network and support services business, reported pre-tax profits of £4.3m last week.
