For a trained actuary, Andrew Walsh, chief executive of Iress, the listed Australian technology company, seems surprisingly entrepreneurial.
Back in the early stages of the internet, he spotted a gap in the market for financial planning software and launched his own company, XPlan, which he sold to Iress in 2003. He subsequently became chief executive of Iress six years later.
Since taking over, he has overseen the £210m takeover of Avelo in the UK, and Iress now has a market capitalisation of A$1.5bn (£814m). The plan, according to Mr Walsh, is to get even bigger.
He said: “We’re very open to inorganic steps in addition to organic plans. We’re very confident of our organic plans but we do have a history of being quite acquisitive. What’s important is that we’re not interested in businesses for size; we see them as a strategic part of our product offering.”
Mr Walsh believes that Iress, which offers, among other things, financial planning software for wealth managers, has a unique selling point in some markets in that it offers a more integrated solution for advisers accustomed to using several systems to get the job done.
Mr Walsh said: “What is our very clear observation in the UK, and is quite a surprise to us, is there are many software vendors that operate in this market but they’re not very integrated.
“When you include the focus on the retail distribution review, there’s a huge opportunity based on thinking about technology in a systematic way. How does an adviser combine its back and front office, so it can properly address the underlying challenges of what post-RDR means?
“Often a distribution network may choose mortgage broking and life and pensions advisers, and in each of these channels there’s a front and back office and they will be supplied by different software vendors. The strategies are quite different and that limits the way that a client proposition can operate in an efficient manner.”
He takes his example from Australia, which has established its own RDR for some time.
Mr Walsh said: “A centralised infrastructure around delivering advice is prevalent in Australia, and that puts us at an advantage.”
In the UK, he added, data in networks has been collected in an unsystematic manner, but managing and controlling one’s data in a sensible fashion appeals to the FCA in the post-RDR era.
According to Mr Walsh, collating data in a centralised and efficient way means you can do more with it – tasks can be automated centrally, for example, which can help manage clients better, especially when it comes to getting them in front of advisers.
Mr Walsh said: “It’s about using the system to use the data to drive communication. That can be emails to alert clients to their appointment to drive communication, rather than making a phone call.”
Iress has done well in the UK, notably signing a deal with Sesame in 2011 to offer Xplan to Sesame advisers to help the transition to a restricted model. Succession is also a client.
Mr Walsh said: “You’ve got to demonstrate the vision and solve problems for clients, and that takes a particular perspective and also the willingness to invest. Other software vendors are waiting for the client to request a solution, and we think that’s backward. We think that’s a function of scale. You need to be of a sufficient size to have the capital to invest in products up front; you can’t wait for clients to pay you first.”
Many advisers will know Iress through its ownership of Avelo, which provides a portal to advisers for quotes. This has now been rebranded as part of Iress. Mr Walsh said: “Our primary strategy is to grow it. We think there are clear opportunities for that. We bring a broader product set to this market than what was there at the Avelo business.
“We are seeing demand for a broader capability and a product set that brings together many of the Avelo products but also solves some integration.”
The UK division, which is made up mainly of Avelo, provides about 30 per cent of group revenue. But the company is a global business, with offices in South Africa, North America and Asia, as well as in several locations in Australia.
Mr Walsh shuttles between Sydney and the UK, but spends a large part of his time here. He said: “The real reason for that is not to second guess what is happening, but to make sure we’re taking decisions as soon as possible.”
Iress’s clients tend to be both small advisers and large networks, and Mr Walsh would clearly love to be on every adviser’s computer.
He said: “We have lots of competitors; we have competitors in our portfolio management capability, and on our trading capabilities. We don’t believe that there are many of our competitors that offer a vertically integrated advice business or the platform that we offer from advice through to portfolio management and execution.”
Melanie Tringham is features editor of Financial Adviser
Andrew Walsh’s career history
2009 Chief executive, Iress
2003 2009 General Manager - wealth management, Iress
2003 Sold XPlan Technology to Iress
2000-2002 Actuarial Development Manager, Vision FPS
2000 Set up XPlan Technology
1995-2000 Actuarial Analyst/Consultant (Mercer)
