Foresightgr Regulatory News (FSG)

11 Aug 2005 17:28

Focus Solutions Group PLC11 August 2005 12 August 2005 Focus Solutions Group plc ("Focus" or "the Group") Focus breaks into the General Insurance market, announcing first customer -Assurant Solutions Focus, a leading provider of customer management solutions to the retailfinancial services market, has announced today a new contract with AssurantSolutions, part of Assurant Inc. The three-year contract is worth just over £250,000 and is for the first phasedevelopment of a Point of Sale (POS) solution to support the sale of regulatedGeneral Insurance products. The new solution will be deployed through existingclient relationships, all of which are directly authorised by the FinancialServices Authority (FSA). Focus has expanded its coverage into a new vertical market, with AssurantSolutions as its first customer within the UK General Insurance market. TheFSA started regulating this market in January 2005, increasing the need for intermediaries to improve the efficiency and compliance of their sales process.This new solution will deliver a single electronic application that will help intermediaries to sell a compliant suite of products in the most efficient way. John Streets, CEO, Focus Solutions Group plc added: "This contract with Assurant Solutions is particularly significant for the Groupin moving our technology and MCA (Multi-Channel Advice) solutions into newmarket areas. The General Insurance market offers significant revenue potentialfor us and Focus is ideally placed to take advantage of this opportunity due toour knowledge and experience gained in the Life, Pensions and Mortgage markets.Our reputation and track record in these markets was a key factor in thedecision process and our technology radically simplifies the sales process." -ends- Enquiries: Focus Solutions Group plc01926 468300 John Streets - Chief ExecutiveMartin Clements - Finance Director Seymour Pierce Limited0207 107 8000 Mark Percy Notes to editors: About Focus Solutions Group plc Focus is a leading provider of customer management solutions for the retailfinancial services industry. Focus' MCA (Multi-Channel Advice) approach, poweredby goal:technology, delivers the life, pensions, mortgage and general insurancemarket with a single solution to enable effective electronic trading acrossmultiple distribution channels, online or offline, achieving straight throughelectronic trading at a much reduced cost to the financial services industry. Focus has a blue chip customer base of financial services organisationsincluding Abbey for Intermediaries, Assurant, Barclays Bank PLC, Capital HomeLoans Ltd, Kensington Mortgages, Legal & General, Mortgages plc, Norwich Union,Paymentshield, Prudential, Scottish Equitable, Scottish Widows, Skandia UKGroup, Standard Life, Winterthur and Zurich, as well as industry portals,including Assureweb, The Exchange, IFAengine, Trigold and Webline. For further information on Focus, please visit www.focus-solutions.co.uk. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange