Source: Barrie & Hibbert
The leading supplier of online decision support tools, decisionsdecisions, has become a wholly owned subsidiary of Barrie & Hibbert, Europe's foremost provider of asset modelling and associated consulting services to the insurance, pensions and fund management industries, it was announced today.
Barrie & Hibbert ('B&H') was already a majority stakeholder in decisionsdecisions ('DD'), and provides much of the modelling capability on which DD's range of products and services are based. The move to provide an integrated offering comes at a time when the importance of web-based technology solutions is growing.
Barrie & Hibbert Chief Executive, Andrew Barrie, said: "Our clients are looking for solutions to their distribution, customer advice, retention and communication challenges. There are some major related issues emerging for the savings and pensions industries and we aim to be at the heart of the changes that will come. To achieve this it is important that we align our resources and services appropriately. The acquisition of decisionsdecisions and the integration with Barrie & Hibbert's consultancy forms part of that alignment. We will continue to make further investments in this field.
The move will enable B&H to grow its presence across a number of key industry areas, including support of DB and DC pension schemes, risk profiling, Treating Customers Fairly and legacy business retention and migration. Further, it will provide a platform from which we can significantly scale the distribution of our current products."
decisionsdecisions Managing Director, Iain Horn, said: "The markets in which we operate are developing quickly. Financial modelling has now become a 'must-have' for many product providers & advisers. However, with this growth come challenges. Two major priorities for our clients are the integrity of the models that underpin the analysis and creating an experience that differentiates from their competition. We believe that this acquisition further increases our ability to address both these issues.
The B&H asset models are now used by more than 70% of major UK insurance companies and 50% of major European insurance companies to manage their financial and regulatory risks. The depth and ongoing development of these models, togeether with the flexibility of DD's technology platform allow us not just to think of today's applications but to ensure the architecture will support evolving needs."