Wealth manager Atomos has entered a strategic partnership with SS&C Hubwise to build a new platform service named 'Atomos Invest'.
The partnership will allow Atomos, which until September was called Sanlam, to offer its investment solutions, which have been developed with WTW, to investors through digitally enabled wrappers.
Atomos said the platform deal would give clients the benefits of a face-to-face service combined with the convenience and accessibility of modern digital tools.
Earlier this year Atomos chief executive Jonathan Polin said the firm was not interested in re-entering the platform market, saying there was "no way" it could develop the software in an economical fashion.
Atomos was previously owner of a 55 per cent stake in Nucleus, which it sold last year.
Niral Parekh, Atomos’ chief operating officer, said: "I believe that new age wealth management business models will focus on specialising in high quality insights and analytics that complement an adviser's ability to enhance service and value to the end-investor.
“As a firm, we want to transform every possible data point of the assets our clients invest with us into insights that deliver better service. Customising our own platform solution and wrapping it around a cloud-based data warehouse simply allows us to do that at scale.
Parekh added that as the industry prepares for the introduction of the Financial Conduct Authority’s consumer duty, the firm aims to “lead the industry in delivering an exceptional client service and experience”.
Nick Wright, chief executive of global investor distribution solutions at SS&C, said: “At SS&C, we pride ourselves on cutting edge technology combined with first class services across the spectrum of investment administration.
“We are very excited at the opportunity to partner with Atomos to significantly improve the adviser and investor experience.”
South Africa-based Sanlam Group sold its UK wealth arm to private equity firm Oaktree for £140mn in September 2021 as part of its strategy to focus on its core African markets.
As part of Sanlam Group's divestment from the UK, it also sold its pensions business to Chesnara, a pensions and protection consolidator, for £39mn in 2021.
amy.austin@ft.com
