Coin and van Eyk in CBA software win
By Craig Phillips
THE Commonwealth Bank of Australia has appointed Coin Software and van Eyk Research as part of its extensive advice model review.
The deal will see Coin’s software product Coin Office replace the bank’s in-house proprietary system, Café, while van Eyk will provide the bank’s planning network with fund manager research.
The deal is a major coup for Coin, which only joined the financial services software space a little over a year ago after the original creators of VisiPlan, Ian Litster and Suwandi Tan, along with van Eyk head of distribution Darren Pettiona, kicked off the business in June 2003.
It is understood Coin is also close to picking up another of the industry’s leading contracts, with Westpac Bank close to completing a review of its adviser software structure.
According to CBA executive general manager financial planning and advice services Brett Himbury, the deal will see Coin’s software become fully available to all the bank’s internal and external advisers by early 2005.
CBA considered a range of service providers before culling the number of potential vendors down to a short-list of seven before cutting this further to three.
“The software will have portfolio modelling around it along with ongoing review capabilities, risk research, investment research, life-style modelling for customers and indeed our bank staff, so it’s a very comprehensive appointment,” Himbury says.
According to Himbury, CBA will now focus on improving the bank’s practice management support for Financial Wisdom advisers along with bettering its leads management process for CBA network planners.
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