News - Archive

December 2008 - Imago Back Office Version 5 is launched.

Version 5 now provides an enhanced administration platform for drawdown, annuities and scheme pensions, incorporating automation to improve scalability and process efficiencies. Additional benefits include improved HMRC reporting capability, provision of consolidated views across product and tax wrappers to deliver data aggregation as well as totally integrated workflow across pensions schemes.

November 2008 - Lifetime SIPP deploys Imago Front Office.

October 2008 - Dunstan Thomas Imago Cup golf success -

Dunstan Thomas, , celebrated the tenth anniversary of its Imago software suite by hosting a golfing tournament at the championship Meon Valley course near Southampton on Friday 12th September.

The Imago Cup crystal trophy was presented to the day’s overall winner, Mike Cranfield, partner of actuarial consultancy firm Lane Clark and Peacock by Dunstan Thomas’ chairman, Christopher Read.

Second place was secured by Mark Whitburn from HSBC, with Altus’ Martyn Evans coming in third.

Longest drive was won by Mike Redgeon of Nokia and closest to the tee was scooped by Dunstan Thomas’ very own managing director, Natanje Holt.

The event was attended by over 30 Dunstan Thomas partners, clients, journalists and industry analysts and was graced with unusually sunny weather.

Christopher Read, chairman, Dunstan Thomas, commented:
“The event was a thank you to everyone who, over the last 10 years, has enabled Dunstan Thomas to make Imago the success that it is today. We continue to roll out new Imago modules and are already taking orders for our brand new Imago Back Office outsourced bureau offering.”

The 18-hole championship Meon course, with its outstandingly natural features of streams, lakes and glorious woodland, provided challenges for all the golfers, from beginners to the most accomplished members of the party.

September 2008 - Rowanmoor take on Imago Illustrations

September 2008 - Protected Rights in the press - Professional Pensions, Citywire, FT Adviser.

September 2008 - Protected Rights support in Imago Front Office.

August 2008 - Dunstan Thomas launch the Outsource service, a full administration service built upon Imago Back Office and Imago Front Office. Watch this space for the news on our first clients. The name of whom is currently under wraps. to find more about the Outsource service, follow the link - Outsource Service.

July 2008 - Novia deploys Dunstan Thomas ‘Imago Front Office’ for pensions & investment illustrations. In the press - Professional Adviser, Citywire, IFAOnline.

Pensions and Administration solutions provider Dunstan Thomas, has secured an important new contract to enable pensions and investment illustrations for Novia Financial plc on its Novia wrap platform, due to launch later this year. Under the terms of the contract Dunstan Thomas ‘Imago Front Office’ will be integrated into InfoComp's Composer wrap technology platform and enable completion of illustrations for SIPPs, ISAs and General Investment Accounts on Novia's new wrap platform

July 2008 - TCF (Treating Customers Fairly) driving new sales of Imago Front Office to satisfy outcome 3 - Consumers are provided with clear information and are kept appropriately informed before during and after the point of sale.

June 2008 - Imago Administration is to be taken on by three further providers this summer. The implementations will provide platforms for group pensions as well as SIPPs. The growth in the Imago business  has lead to a recruitment drive to bring further experience to the company. Andrew Moon has joined the company as a BA. Andrew has worked throughout the industry, more recently at Friends Provident and Capita.

May 2008 - Imago Numerus

May / June 2008 - Exhibiting at the AMPS Conference, 22 May and the Henry Stewart Conference, 24 June.

May 2008 - Dunstan Thomas strengthen the distribution of Imago in the wrap market. Imago Illustrations are being deployed for Novia's new wrap platform. Imago Numerus is being deployed in a further wrap platform, announcement to come.

May 2008 - The Outer Office - New product development

May 2008 - 2008 is ‘Year of the Wrap’, but are providers ready for it?

April 2008 - 2008 is ‘Year of the Wrap’,
finds new Dunstan Thomas survey of adviser community 71% of adviser firms’ wrap migration strategies may be in breach of ‘Treating Customers Fairly’ (TCF) principle, but could go hand in hand with firms’ pensions consolidation programmes.

Wrap platforms are expected to have the most significant impact on the retirement planning market this year, according to a recent survey of advisers commissioned by pensions and investments technology solutions provider Dunstan Thomas. A total of 39 per cent of advisers saw wraps as being more important than ‘innovation in SIPP products’ (e.g. family SIPPs, corporate SIPP etc.) which picked up 23 per cent of the vote; and ‘enhancement of legacy pension schemes’ chosen by 21 per cent of respondents.

Press Release

April 2008 - Providers still resisting Wrap investment, finds new Dunstan Thomas Survey. Main point of failure is likely to be cultural fixation on creating own solutions, says Dunstan Thomas

Only one in ten (10 per cent) of the 183 life offices, SIPP providers and SIPP administrator firms polled by an e-mailed survey commissioned by pensions and investments technology solutions provider Dunstan Thomas in February, found that supporting wrap platforms was the key route to growth in 2008. This comes despite the fact that IFAs are seeing migration of clients onto wrap platforms as a key element of their development plan, according to a parallel study of pensions and investment adviser firms, also commissioned by Dunstan Thomas.

Press Release

March 2008 - Research has started into the application of the Imago Front Office platform for Social Networks. Chris Read, Chairman, "This is an exciting new chapter for the the company as we look to the future and identify possibilities and new forms in which our solutions can be used by a younger demographic." Prototypes of the platform have already been configured for Facebook.

March 2008 - Natanje Holtbecomes the company Managing Director, reporting to the board of directors. Natanje moves from Operations Director to take on the wider role of managing all aspects of the business.

March 2008 - Dunstan Thomas Business Solutions takes on the SIPP administration mandate for Hargereave Hale. The administration service is delivered upon the Imago platform. The service will be managed by the Imago technical team and ex James Hay administrator Paul Creighton-Williamson.

Chris Read, Chairman, says "This is a relatively new element of our business I see it as an evolution of our business transformation from software developer to service provider. We are looking forward to announcing new business partners to use the service in the near future."

February 2008 - The 2008 survey is now ready for action. Last year the 2007 survey provided an insight into the emerging WRAP market in the post pensions regulation world. It also illustrated the dominance of the SIPP market. This year we are looking to continue that thread of enquiry, so that we can build upon the findings of 2007. To gain access to the survey:

• If you are a provider - Select the Provider Survey
• If you are an adviser - Select the Adviser Survey

January 2008 - New versions of both the Imago Front Office and Imago Back Office are being prepared for release during the first quarter of the year. Support for Group Pensions, SSAS and Investment Management activities is be made available for Imago Administration. Imago Front Office will see greater support for bonds and other investment wrappers.

November 2007, 30th - SIPP Masterclass - Dunstan Thomas have an exhibition stand

October 2007 - Friends Provident go live with Imago Administration and Imago Front Office tools to deliver drawdown across a series of retirement products. Keep an eye on the Friends Provident news room for an announcement.

September 2007 - Dunstan Thomas become an associate member of AMPS

August 2007 - The Blog is now live

August 2007, 23rd - Hazell Carr extends their usage of Imago by integrating the Advisor Tools, Illustrations and Reviews into their business.

July 22 2007 - Dunstan Thomas in the press - Stochastics

June 19 2007 - Imago Illustrations & Reviews to be used for Alliance Trust SIPP & drawdown products.

June 12 2007 - In the press - FT Adviser, WRAPS high on advisers agenda

June 11 2007 - In the press - IFA Online, 30% of advisors recommend a SIPP on the basis of wealth.

June 11 2007 - In the press - IFA Online, launch of Regulations Booklet. Download a copy.

June 8 2007 - In the press - Money Marketing, launch of Regulations Booklet.Download a copy

June 5 2007 - Rise in PI premiums is key concern for adviser community, finds new Dunstan Thomas survey.

The principle concern of the financial adviser community, following Regulation Day (R-Day) on 6th April 2007 is absorption of professional indemnity (PI) premiums which has been one consequence of doing newly regulated Self Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs) business. This was one of the key findings of a survey of 4,000 pensions-dominated financial advisers that Dunstan Thomas commissioned Matrix-Data to conduct at the end of April 2007.

For more in this story - click here.

June 2 2007 - Dunstan Thomas partners with Altus to automate e-filing of pensions tax returns for HMRC

Dunstan Thomas, has partnered with electronic filing specialist Altus to enable its pensions administration platform Imago to offer automation of Accounting for Tax Returns, Event Reports and Pension Scheme Returns for pensions third party administrators (TPAs). Altus will also provide automation of PAYE annual returns for policyholders deriving income through their pension policy’s income drawdown facility. For more in this story - click here.

May 2007 - Opportunities in a Regulated World
The new industry booklet with two industry surveys covering WRAP, Stochastics, Administration Technology and a whole host of others.

May 2007 - Post R-Day opportunities

May 2007 - Stochastics versus Determinism

May 2007 - Doing business in a regulated world

April 2007 - One year on from A-Day

April 2007 - Stochastic Model release

April 2007 - In the press - Imago Adviser Tools in FT Adviser R-Day

April 2007 - In the press - The rise of DC Schemes is creating demand for a new generation of adviser tools R-Day<

March 2007 - In the press - Forthcoming - SIPP market will thrive post R-Day

March 2007 - Product homogenization and the effect of augmentation on administration systems.

February 2007 - In the press - Retirement Planner

February 2007 - In the press - Money Marketing

February 2007 - In the press - IFA Online

February 2007 - Friends Provident select Imago Administration to augment their group and individual pensions administration platform.

February 2007 - Dunstan Thomas press release on outsourcing arrangement with Maltese software company Ascent, click here for more details.

January 2007 - Imago Portal is released. Imago Portal provides a set of web services that exposes data from Imago Administration to a qeb site.

December 2006 - Imago Advisor Tools, Stochastic Model is taking shape. In association with actuarial consultancy Lane Clark and Peacock, the model is expecting to be available in the 1st quarter of 2007.

December 2006 - Australian Bank, Macquaire Banks consider Imago Administration to deliver their SIPP and WRAP administration in the UK

November 2006 - Imago Illustrations and Imago Reviews version 3.2 released.

November 2006 - Alliance Trusts select Imago Illustrations and Imago Reviews to deliver quotations and projections for their SIPP.

October 2006 - Pearson Jones select Imago Administration to deliver their SIPP proposition.

September 2006 - Imago Administration released to the market to service individual and group pensions and investment schemes.

 

January 2006 - Imago Portal is released. Imago Portal provides a set of web services that exposes data from Imago Administration to a web site.

December 2006 - Friends Provident select Imago Administration to augment their group and individual pensions administration platform.

December 2006 - Imago Advisor Tools, Stochastic Model is taking shape. In association with actuarial consultancy Lane Clark and Peacock, the model is expecting to be available in the 1st quarter of 2007.

December 2006 - Australian Bank, Macquaire Banks consider Imago Administration to deliver their SIPP and WRAP administration in the UK

November 2006 - Imago Illustrations and Imago Reviews version 3.2 released.

November 2006 - Alliance Trusts select Imago Illustrations and Imago Reviews to deliver quotations and projections for their SIPP.

October 2006 - Pearson Jones select Imago Administration to deliver their SIPP proposition.

September 2006 - Imago Administration released to the market to service individual and group pensions and investment schemes.

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