Pru signs up to Barrie & Hibbert Decisionsdecisions adviser software

Published on Friday 18 May 2007 01:13

AN EDINBURGH-BASED financial risk consultancy has won the contract to provide the insurance giant Prudential's network of financial advisers with online software.

Barrie & Hibbert's wholly-owned subsidiary, Decisionsdecisions, will provide a product that will enable the Pru's advisers to compare with-profits savings products more easily.

One source said: "It will save them time and hassle. It's quite a coup for a small Edinburgh-based company to provide online planning tools for one of the UK's biggest insurers.

"While Decisionsdecisions provide the online planning tool, their parent company, Barrie & Hibbert, provides the raw material, data, research etc."

The move fits in with comments from the Financial Services Authority, Britain's financial regulator, that it wants to see companies doing regular reviews of existing with-profits investments to ensure their continued suitability for clients. The so-called With-Profits Analyser provided by the Scottish company will allow advisers to compare unitised with-profits bonds with specific Pru products.

Barrie & Hibbert have grown fast in recent years, and now service two-thirds of the UK insurance industry, and more than half the European insurance sector.

The firm employs 40 people in Melville Street, Edinburgh, and "bulge bracket" American investment bank Goldman Sachs bought a 35 per cent stake in the business a few months ago.