Supplied by MBA Systems, the new platform is a derivative of MBA's award-winning, Clients Direct product, but tailored to match the extensive international requirements of AES.

Holding a niche position, AES fulfils the cross-border, international and offshore needs of intermediaries, institutions and private clients with an offering that includes multi-currency dealing, settlement and custody. AES's new system enables wealth managers and IFAs throughout the world to offer an investment management platform that has been branded to their own business and tuned to the service provided by AES. The look and feel of the system pertains to the intermediary, but the funds are fully, yet invisibly managed by AES.

The system has gone into production with over 50 AES clients as users and it has been very well received. Key to the success of the system is its flexibility.

"Our clients all have different needs," explains Sam Instone, chief executive officer of AES International. "The parameters for each are diverse and demanding. Not only are there variations between business models with some offering a discretionary service and others advisory, but each is seeking to create a point of difference for their own business."

"AES posed a particular requirement of the system, namely to extend it for a broader international reach, including some new jurisdictions in the Middle East," added MBA Systems director, Stephen Taylor. "We are pleased at how well this has been achieved by our system, Clients Direct."

The MBA system has also significantly streamlined AES's processes, an increasing priority with the rapid growth of the business - AES is one of the fastest growing wealth management groups worldwide. Before there was an aggregation of four systems patched together. These have now been replaced with the one system, enhancing straight through processing and the efficiency of the whole operation.

When it came to selecting the ring the right solution, AES undertook a full review of the market. It looked at and evaluated some 30 different suppliers before settling for the MBA system. Having carried out such a thorough search, AES is anticipating that MBA's Clients Direct system will make a positive change to both its own business and that of its clients.

"It should help to increase the income of our clients in the short term and their profitability in the long term," says Instone. "The system is based on leading technology, which we have embraced and are exporting as a service overseas."