Foresight Group Holdings Regulatory News (FSG)

21 Oct 2008 07:00



Focus Solutions Group plc

("Focus Solutions" or the "Group")

Contract Win

Focus Solutions, an established supplier of enterprise solutions to the financial services industry, is pleased to announce that it has won a new contract for its innovative Wealth Management solution, focus:360°, with a new entrant to the IFA market, Towergate Financial. The initial value of the focus:360° contract will be £800,000 with a 5 year term for the licensing of the focus:360° software, based on a per user licence, along with professional services to support the implementation of focus:360°.

focus:360° will enable Towergate Financial to offer a multi-channel solution to their advisers, creating a unique distribution model supported by technology that will be a major competitive differentiator in terms of new business processing and client servicing. 

Towergate Financial are committed to gaining a significant share of UK financial services distribution, through a combination of the strategic acquisition of IFA firms and organic growth, whilst building upon their existing brand. Patrick Snowball, Towergate Financial Chief Executive commented: 'Our aim is to be a leader of change in the IFA world and our principal aim is to transform relationships with our clients. Selecting Focus technology is a fundamental part of achieving success and our aim. Excellent technology enables great service, good advice and strong compliance'.

Richard Stevenson, Chief Executive, Focus Solutions, commented: 

"We are absolutely delighted to be working with Towergate Financial on this exciting project whilst creating an industry first. This further endorses the quality of focus:360° in terms of the underlying technology, the overall solution and the experience of the people involved. A key differentiator for Focus is that we've implemented large scale, enterprise solutions many times before with multiple integration points delivering a significant return on investment." 

Sue Guest, Operations Director, Towergate Financial added: 

"To ensure our seamless entry into this new market, it was critical that we chose the right supplier and throughout the sales process, Focus clearly demonstrated this. Focus has a good reputation for delivering flexible, efficient and effective solutions which combined with their industry knowledge made them our preferred technology partner for our Point of Sale solution. We look forward to continuing our work with Focus".

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About Focus Solutions Group plc

Focus Solutions is an established and proven supplier of enterprise solutions to the financial services industry in the UK, Ireland and more recently across Europe.

Focus Solutions has delivered over 100 complex front office projects with multiple integration points and partners to a blue chip client base including 8 out of the top 10 UK Life & Pension providers, a number of leading bancassurers including the likes of HSBC, Irish Life and Barclays, significant wealth management players such as St James's Place and a number of mortgage. The technology truly enables straight through processing whilst providing an engaging client and adviser experience to submit and service business electronically.

focus:360° is at the core of all client implementations providing a single, agile, multi-channel technology platform. Focus Solutions has brought together three key areas of expertise: software, consultancy and service delivery. This totally integrated approach means clients can distribute any product across any channel. At the same time they can maintain an enterprise-wide view of the customer value and risk. 

For further information on Focus Solutions, please visit www.focus-solutions.co.uk

About Towergate Financial

Launched in 2008 Towergate Financial is a sister company to Towergate Partnership: Europe's largest independently owned insurance organisation.

Supported by the size and strength of Towergate Partnership, Towergate Financial is perfectly positioned to succeed in becoming one of the UK's leading providers of both personal and corporate financial advice. The company is investing significantly in the people, processes and products required to achieve its goals, while embarking on a rapid plan of acquiring high quality financial advisory businesses.