Linedata Services, a global leader in the financial technology market, announced today that Reliance Mutual Insurance Society, one of the leading UK providers of smoker annuities today, has selected Linedata's investment administration and fund accounting solution, Icon, to meet its growing requirements.
Reliance Mutual, originally formed as a friendly society in 1911 and converted into a mutual insurance company in 1951, has grown its business rapidly over the last few years through a number of acquisitions and now has assets under management in excess of £1.5 billion.
This growth prompted Reliance to review its existing system for investment accounting and valuations, and approach the market for a solution capable of supporting its current and future business volumes. In a competitive bid process, Icon was chosen after a thorough evaluation process for its rich functionality, including powerful, flexible valuation, unit pricing, CGT and reporting facilities, its proven scalability and fast, real-time operation.
Cara Whatford, Financial Controller at Reliance Mutual, said, "Reliance has made five acquisitions since 2003, and our assets under management have increased threefold. Our previous system was established when our assets under management were much smaller than they are today and reporting requirements were less complex. The system needed upgrading to ensure we could continue to support our corporate strategy of growth through acquisitions and niche markets. As part of the selection process we looked at a number of providers. Linedata's Icon was chosen due to its functionality and its ability to grow and be flexible with the changing requirements of the Reliance Mutual Group."
David Bilbé, Managing Director for Linedata Services, Northern Europe, commented, "I am delighted to welcome Reliance Mutual to our client base, and they join a number of other mutual insurance companies already using Icon. This year, with more consolidation and acquisitions in the industry, we have seen a number of organisations looking for fund accounting solutions that can handle their increasing business. Icon's open architecture and toolkit approach provides clients with the flexibility to manage their changing business requirements."