Skandia, part of Old Mutual Wealth, and International Financial Data Services (IFDS), a major global IT and outsourced administration services supplier, today announced that the two firms have formed a strategic relationship to enhance the services provided by Skandia to financial advisers and customers in the UK.
The twenty-year contract will see a number of administration functions outsourced to IFDS and will enable Skandia to continue to enhance its proposition for financial advisers by utilising IFDS’s new processing services and technology.
Skandia’s front office telephone and e-mail contact teams that advisers and customers interact with on a daily basis will remain in house and Skandia plans to invest in new technology to improve their efficiency.
The integration of IFDS administration, processing and technology is due to start during 2016. Skandia’s current development schedule remains unaffected.
“This relationship represents an investment in our business that will enable us to efficiently continue to improve the service and products we offer to financial advisers and their clients,” said Paul Feeney, chief executive of Old Mutual Wealth. “We will be able to respond to adviser and customer needs faster than we can today and deliver additional functionality and greater flexibility to advisers via the UK platform.”
IFDS has a proven track record as a leading UK and global provider of administration services and technology solutions. The strategic relationship will provide Skandia with access to market leading administration expertise enabling Skandia to focus on developing and providing innovative wealth management solutions to financial advisers and their customers.
“This is a strategic relationship that combines the best elements of each company,” said Simon Hudson-Lund, executive chairman, IFDS.
“Utilising the specialist service and platform model of IFDS will ensure Skandia has the ability to access the latest developments that can help it continuously improve the services it offers to financial advisers. We are delighted to be building on our long standing relationship with Old Mutual.”
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