Yesterday saw the London launch of ICL’s new Quartet range of systems for financial services, in conjunction with software houses Unioned, Pentagram, MSC Software Ltd and Solvit. This new range in fact comprises the established ICL Clan Unix machines and DRS 300 departmental and office system ranges, bundled together with an array of software packages from the quartet, to cover money purchase administration, unit trust customer service management, mortgage application processing and life and pensions. Solvit’s new database, imaginatively dubbed Solvit, is designed to sell financial advice. It can be used for mailshot identification, weeding out unprofitable clients by cross referencing and for tracking new product buying trends and the selling record of financial advisors. To buy the database alone will set you back UKP1,000 on a single user installation basis. Additional modules cost extra. The Money Purchase Administration System from Unioned has been developed to comply with the 1988 Pensions Legislation, effective as of January 1988. It will allow companies to plan business for April 1988 when contracted money purchase plans will be launched. Prices are not available as thay are entirely dependant on the needs of the client. The new Unit Trust Customer Service Management system, Fundman, from Pentagram however has a price tag of UKP12,000 for the networked version. It apparently enables the Unit Trust manager to improve customer service and increase administrative efficiency. The MSC package – ranging from UKP2,000 to UKP2,500 for single user software to UKP15,000 to UKP20,000 for a full networked system – includes mortgage application administration, life and pensions administration, deeds control and mortgage arrears administration. All four run on the DRS 300, the last also runs on the Clan machines. Prices for the DRS 300 ICL hardware vary from UKP10,000 to UKP20,000 depending on the application. ICL reckons its systems are now used to settle 75% of all UK equity bargains – at NMW Computers, Chase Manhattan Securities, Morgan Grenfell to name a few – and to register all gilt trades. It also claims that its machines are used to process 75% of UK credit insurance, and to administer client accounts at 30% of all Building Societies.
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