Misys today announces that Clerical Medical, a subsidiary of HBOS plc, is to become the fourth investor in the AssureWeb portal.

The agreement follows the announcement in January that Friends Provident, Norwich Union and Scottish Widows were collectively making a £9.2m investment in AssureWeb to enhance and develop the portal, as well as committing to payments of £16.8m for services related to usage of the portal. The three providers originally acquired a 40% stake, which will now be shared by all four providers. Misys retains a 60% stake in AssureWeb.

Commenting on the investment, John Edwards, Chief Executive, Clerical Medical said: “The direction indicated by reviews such as Sandler and Pickering is an environment of increasing pressure on margins and costs for both IFAs and product providers. Against that backdrop it is clear that the industry must work more closely together to accelerate the growth of business-to-business e-commerce. Clerical Medical’s investment in the AssureWeb portal is tangible evidence of our commitment to driving down costs across the industry through the effective deployment of e-commerce capability.”

AssureWeb will continue to provide open access to all product providers and all IFAs, regardless of whether or not they are an investing provider or one of the Misys network members.

An additional 13 product providers have signed up to new, and long term, membership agreements. These agreements are designed to enable Misys and product providers to work closely together and agree common goals to achieve the e-commerce vision.

The companies now signed up to the new agreements, in addition to Friends Provident, Norwich Union, Scottish Widows and Clerical Medical, are: Aegon (Scottish Equitable), AMP, ANFIS (Scottish Mutual/Scottish Provident), AXA, Britannic Retirement Solutions, BUPA, Liverpool Victoria, Prudential, Royal London (Scottish Life), Skandia, Standard Life, Swiss Life and ZIFA.

Commenting on the new membership agreements:

Jim Smith, Head of eBusiness, Scottish Life said: “Supporting the AssureWeb proposition is a key part of our business strategy. We are pleased to be part of the AssureWeb vision and believe that this relationship is essential in making our products more accessible to the market.“

Graham Dumble, Managing Director, Scottish Equitable plc said: “We see the benefits of this partnership being twofold. First, it strengthens the strong relationship that already exists between Misys and Scottish Equitable and, secondly, it reinforces not only our commitment to developing technology but our long held belief that technology is a critical component of improving service and reducing costs within the industry.”

In addition, Misys can also announce that in excess of 1000 IFAs have already signed contracts for its desktop software product, mi-solution. This is an endorsement of the Misys technology strategy, which is based on the principle that the key elements of IFA, provider and technology supplier must be aligned. mi-solution is designed to support the IFA advice process and will be seamlessly integrated with AssureWeb for e-trading.

Helen O’Dea, Chief Executive Officer of AssureWeb, commented: “We are delighted with the major progress we have made in our technology strategy for IFAs. The commitment by Clerical Medical and all other leading providers demonstrates that the industry is serious about bringing down costs.

We are also delighted to see the strong, early take-up of mi-solution. This is a clear indication that our technology strategy is gaining widespread IFA support, as advisers move to adopt full end to end e-trading.”

Paul Charles, Misys Corporate Communications 020 7368 2315

Gordon McAra, Clerical Medical Public Relations 01275 554344

About Misys plc
Misys plc develops and licenses a variety of software products to customers in the international banking and securities, healthcare, and UK retail financial services sectors. The Group also offers transaction processing and research support for Independent Financial Advisers in five networks – Countrywide, DBS, Financial Options, Kestrel and IFA Network. Misys employs over 6,500 people internationally.