Investia, the provider of fund supermarket and wrap platform systems that is best known for its work on the FundsHub platform created for JP Morgan, has issued a license for its core Javelin Enterprise system to Investia Software Solutions Limited (ISSL), a new business formed recently by Ron Lay, Investia’s co-founder and Chief Technology Officer.
ISSL plans to deploy the Investia Javelin system as an Application Service Provider (ASP) to deliver outsourcing facilities initially to UK independent financial advisers (IFAs) who want to have control over their own Wrap platform without the associated IT or operational costs and responsibilities.
“Investia Software Services Ltd provides dynamic solutions to the needs of IFAs who want access to technology that is both flexible and affordable,” says Ron Lay. “Our ASP service is designed to relieve IFAs of administrative tasks, and let them concentrate on running their business and servicing their customers. This initiative is in direct response to the changing needs of the market and the growing awareness by IFAs of the need for great technology to underpin their business.”
Mark Collier CEO of Investia says he believes the combination of Investia’s established systems and ISSL’s focus on an ASP business will open up new sources of business not previously accessible to Investia. “The timing of this initiative by ISSL is excellent as it comes when IFAs are confronted with an increasingly narrower choice on Wrap platforms and fund supermarkets in the wake of Egg’s Fundsdirect withdrawal from the market,” he says.
Investia was formed by executives at Charles Schwab and Fidelity in 1999. Its core Javelin Enterprise product is aimed at banks, transfer agents, fund managers, fund supermarkets and other distributors of mutual funds and other retail products.