The Wesleyan will today unveil what is thought to be the single biggest expansion programme ever seen in the Birmingham financial sector.

The mutual assurer will announce that it has plans to recruit more than 100 extra financial consultants. That represents an increase in the society's sales force of 50 per cent.

The 167-year-old organisation is also setting up its own Academy in order to train the new recruits.

The Wesleyan, which has assets of about £4 billion and which is reckoned by insurance market analysts to have the strongest balance sheet of any mutual insurer, specialises in tailored financial services doctors, dentists, lawyers and teachers.

By concentrating on recruiting new consultants with knowledge of its core markets, for example, former teach-ers and pharmaceutical reps, it is looking beyond the financial services sector to boost its sales force.

Chief executive Craig Errington said the society's existing sales force was restructured in 2005 to concentrate on key professional groups.

Its main brands are Wesleyan Medical Sickness catering for doctors and dentists, Wesleyan for Teachers and Wesleyan for Lawyers.

"Our clients value our insight into their professions and our ability to deliver holistic advice and products to meet their particular needs.

"This has resulted in a significant year-on-year increase in new business.

"We now want to capitalise on this success and meet the growing demand that exists from current and potential customers.

"Increasing the number of financial consultants on the ground will help us to achieve this and significantly improve access to our products and services."

Wesleyan said its Academy, whose activities are centred on two hotels near Stratford-upon-Avon, will provide theoretical and on the job training.

Sales director Ian Lazenby said: "We believe that establishing our own training academy is the right move for Wesleyan.

"We want to change the profile of the typical financial consultant and will be training men and women of all ages who have different backgrounds and experiences.

"This is why we've chosen to look outside the industry and are focusing on recruiting professionals with the right core skills which can be developed to make them top class financial consultants."

Recruits will ultimately progress to sit all six Certificates in Financial Planning and Mortgage Advice exams.

"What the academy will give us are well-trained, well-rounded financial consultants able to relate to our target clients," said Mr Lazenby.

Today's announcement signals the start of a new period of expansion for Wesleyan, which following the demise of Britannic is the only major financial services provider to be headquartered in Birmingham.

Founded by members of the Wesleyan church in 1841, it frequently wins top honours for its products and financial performance.

The strength of its balance sheet, which gets a ten out of ten rating by the independent Cazelet organisation, is a result of the refusal on the part of its investment strategists, led by Mike Lewis, to jump aboard the dotcom boom of the late 1990s.

That meant Wesleyan was able to maintain a high, 70 per cent plus, equities weighting at a time when bigger rivals such as the then-still-mutual Standard Life was forced to sell at the bottom of the market and crystallise huge losses.

It also meant that Wesleyan's funds benefited strongly from the upturn in the stock market following the post-millennium three-year bear market.

That was reflected in the fact that the society was recently able to report a 76 per cent rise in sales of with-profits bonds in 2007.