In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), the developer of XPLAN announced it will acquire Avelo Financial Services, a leading platform manufacturer which provides software to 35,000 British advisers, including 93 of the top 100 independent financial adviser firms in the UK.
According to the statement, the deal will “significantly diversify IRESS’s geographic and segment exposure, accelerating revenue opportunities in the UK”.
“This is a unique and attractive opportunity to establish scale, revenue and relationship footprint in the UK,” said IRESS chief executive Andrew Walsh.
The statement said IRESS aims to be in a position to take advantage of technology needs in the UK market driven by regulatory change, including the introduction of the FOFA-like Retail Distribution Review.
Under the terms of the acquisition, current Avelo chief executive Simon Bradley will assume the role of IRESS UK managing director, reporting to the Australia-based Mr Walsh.
The deal now requires approval by the UK Financial Conduct Authority.
How would this affect the SA operation and will new developments be launched in SA?
Jason who runs & owns your business ?
It shouldn’t up to u
its quite expensive, but thats what our dealer group wants, what choice do we have
While Xplan’s expansion into the UK market may be good business it may prove somewhat disquieting for many of the software company’s local user base who struggle daily with a less than user friendly interface and functionality of both the planning and revenue management systems.
The software is badly in need of radical process reengineering to meet the needs of the current environment. As a comprehensive planning tool the software stands out but the expression “sledgehammer to crack a nut” comes to mind in an era of Scaled Advice. Sitting at a table of advisers at a recent conference I was surprised to find a common solution was implementation of multiple software platforms within a practice, such as Xplan for comprehensive and Midwinter for limited advice – it works but not really ideal.
Will badly needed development resources and senior management focus be directed toward the UK acquisition? Given the dominance of Xplan this is a question worth exploration.