Imago to be used on AEGON’s Corporate and Adviser ‘At Retirement’ wrap platforms delivered through Novia

Dunstan Thomas will provide illustrations and calculations for AEGON’s new Workplace and Adviser ‘at-retirement’ wrap platforms

Dunstan Thomas, the leading pre at and post retirement solutions provider, has been chosen to provide its Imago Front Office software to enable AEGON UK to offer illustrations and calculation engine capabilities for its new adviser at-retirement and workplace wrap platforms. The platforms will be based on and delivered through Novia’s existing platform from GBST, which already uses Dunstan Thomas’ Imago solutions. AEGON UK will launch both wrap platforms within the next nine months.

Dunstan Thomas’ Imago Front Office will enable the AEGON UK platforms to offer illustrations for pensions, ISAs and general investment accounts (GIAs). Dunstan Thomas’ Imago Front Office will also enable ‘effective deductions’ on illustrations information through its Reduction in Yield calculator. It will also support full transparency associated with unbundling of charges and other disclosure requirements required by the upcoming Retail Distribution Review (RDR), as well as new disclosure requirements as they come through.


Chris Read, chairman, Dunstan Thomas Holdings commented on the deal:
“AEGON UK is sensibly building its wraps using Novia which is an established, independent wrap platform using leading-edge, yet fully proven, technology. We look forward to contributing towards what will be state-of-the art additions to the corporate and adviser wrap platform market when they come to market.”


About Dunstan Thomas:
Dunstan Thomas is a leading pre, at and post retirement solutions provider offering a fully integrated range of components under the Imago brand. These components together provide the key back and front office administration tools needed by pension providers, third party administrators and financial advisers. Imago’s Front Office administration components include Illustrations, Reviews and stochastic models in Adviser Tools. Imago’s Back Office tools include Administration and Property.

Dunstan Thomas’ Imago is now establishing itself as a highly functional platform for servicing not only pensions products but also supporting Wrap platforms to help them generate increased efficiencies and automate calculations, illustrations and provide all relevant reporting capabilities.

Dunstan Thomas has been providing these solutions to leading names in the pensions and investments market for 20 years. It works with other leading names in the industry such as HSBC, Ascentric, Novia, Friends Provident, Hargreaves Lansdown, Xafinity and Capita.

About AEGON UK
In the UK AEGON offers pensions, life insurance, asset management and financial advice to around 2 million customers. AEGON UK has assets under administration of £57.6 billion.

As an international life insurance, pension and investment company based in The Hague, AEGON has approximately 28 thousand employees worldwide and 40 million customers in the Americas, Europe and Asia. AEGON's revenue generating investments totalled EUR 413 billion at December 2010.

About Novia
Novia Financial plc launched to market in October 2008 to provide a comprehensive wealth management service or ‘full wrap platform’ for investment advisers and their clients. Novia provides a transparent pricing structure as well as access to a wide range of product wrappers, an extensive suite of portfolio management tools, and access to an extensive range of investment classes including shares, bonds, traditional authorised funds, ETFs and alternative investments as well as a Cash Facility.

The core administration plstform is provided by Australian based GBST who have been developing software solutions for fund administration and financial services since 1996, and for wrap solutions since 1999, amassing $186bn (AU) in assets under management on their systems. The comprehensive suite of portfolio management tools is powered by Financial Express, who also provide the data for the platform, and the illustrations are provided by Dunstan Thomas.

The Novia team, based in Bath, is led by Bill Vasilieff ex Sales and Marketing director and joint cofounder of Selestia. Novia as an independent proposition has substantial financial backing from a combination of private individuals and corporate organisations. The board is chaired by Sir Anthony Cleaver (former chairman and chief executive of IBM in the UK). Other members include John Beaumont, non executive, who has held a number of non executive roles in major public organisations and several technology startups, Tim Levy (non executive and investor), Chief Executive of Future Capital Partners, David Royds (non executive and investor) Chairman of Matrix group and Bill Vasilieff as CEO. Novia Financial plc is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.