Foresightgr Regulatory News (FSG)

13 Apr 2005 07:01

Focus Solutions Group PLC13 April 2005 13th April 2005 Focus Solutions Group plc Focus and Trigold sign contract to transform electronic trading within the mortgage market In November 2004, Focus Solutions Group Plc ("Focus") and Trigold, a leadingprovider of software to the intermediary mortgage market, announced a strategicpartnership to create a new e-commerce community in the mortgage market. Focusand Trigold have now signed a contract to formalise this strategic partnershipto transform electronic trading within the UK mortgage industry. Following a period of technical due diligence, the terms of the partnership havebeen agreed and both companies will work together to drive the propositionforward to provide both mortgage advisers and lenders with an enhancedelectronic trading solution. Focus' technology will be integrated into Trigold's mortgage sourcing softwareto provide the capability for Trigold's over 22,000 users to complete and submitelectronic mortgage applications. As part of the agreement, Focus will 'fast-track' lenders to start receiving thebenefits of e-commerce by converting the existing Trigold application forms into'Focus forms' to electronically capture data. Over 130 lenders, whose productsare available on Trigold, will then have the opportunity to upgrade their Focusforms to provide mortgage advisers with an easy to use full electronic mortgageapplication. The new applications offer the capability to enable straightthrough 'touch free' electronic processing of new mortgage business. Bill Safran, Chief Executive, Trigold comments: "This partnership is a great opportunity for Trigold, Focus and indeed themortgage market as a whole. All parties within the mortgage sales process willreceive significant benefit from using the new Focus forms and we are confidentthat once our customer base of lenders see the results, they will steadilymigrate across to providing advisers with a full electronic mortgageapplication. John Streets, Chief Executive, Focus Solutions added: "The past 12 months in the mortgage market have been extremely successful forFocus we have experienced triple digit growth and taking this partnership withTrigold forward will enable us to strengthen our position and build new businessrelationships. This new partnership will create an e-commerce community thatwill provide the market with a much needed efficient method of transactingmortgage business at much lower costs." END Enquiries: Focus Solutions Group plc 01926 468300 John Streets - Chief Executive Martin Clements - Finance Director Notes to editors: About Focus Solutions Group plc Focus Solutions Group plc is a leading provider of customer management solutionsfor the financial services industry. Focus' MCA (Multi-Channel Advice) approach,powered by goal:technology, delivers the life and pensions and mortgage marketwith a single solution to enable effective electronic trading across multipledistribution channels, online or offline, achieving straight through electronictrading at a much reduced cost to the financial services industry. Focus has a blue chip customer base of financial services organisationsincluding Abbey for Intermediaries, Kensington Mortgages, Legal & General,Mortgages plc, Norwich Union, Paymentshield, Prudential, Scottish Equitable,Scottish Widows, Skandia UK Group, Standard Life, Winterthur and Zurich, as wellas industry portals, including Assureweb, The Exchange, IFAengine, Trigold and Webline. For further information on Focus Solutions, please visitwww.focus-solutions.co.uk. About Trigold • Trigold is a leading provider of software to the intermediary mortgagemarket, and the only provider who has integrated compliance and mortgagesourcing software. • Trigold's core products provide sourcing for mortgage professionalscomprising initial fact find and data collection, sourcing and applicationsubmission capabilities, complemented with a suite of compliance solutions. • Trigold is founded on the principle of using technology to make iteasier for both lenders and intermediaries to conduct their business. • Trigold is currently the mortgage sourcing system of choice for over18,000 professional mortgage advisers • Trigold's prospector system has been successfully White Labelled(individually re-branded) for 55 different mortgage clients. • Trigold can successfully deliver electronic applications to over 65Mortgage Lenders This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange