Mortgage sourcing software provider Twenty7Tec has bought Bluecoat Software which owns the Finplan customer relationship management (CRM) system used by many protection advisers.
The Finplan CRM is used by more than 300 advisory firms in the protection, mortgage and wealth management sectors while CloudTwenty7 is used by more than 15,000 mortgage advisers to source and apply for products.
Twenty7Tec said it will be investing heavily in developing Finplan “into a market-leading CRM solution for the wealth, mortgage and protection markets, as well as continuing to further develop the other mortgage capabilities of the combined businesses”.
The acquisition will bring the firm under the Twenty7Tec brand which will be led by CEO James Tucker with Bluecoat founder and former CEO Mark Skelding join Twenty7Tec Group board as a non-executive director.
The firms added that their respective systems were already integrated.
The combined entity will have almost 100 employees and Tucker noted the firm planned to recruit heavily for the senior team in particular.
“We believe the product skills and knowledge that we have accumulated as a business in the mortgage market are eminently transferable into adjacent markets,” he said.
“Finplan is a highly configurable solution and we are confident that we can deliver real value to advisers in mortgages, wealth management and protection.”
Tucker added: “This represents our first significant acquisition, but we will continue to look for opportunities to enhance our product offering in the UK.
“We will continue to look for other businesses that share a similar ethos and desire to drive efficiency and innovation in the financial services technology market.”
Skelding said: “It feels a very natural fit for Finplan to be joining the Twenty7Tec stable of products and it’s hugely exciting for the future.”