Bravura to clinch new Australian clients as ‘perfect storm’ hits technology market

As it beds down its seventh UK contract Bravura Solutions is close to revealing a couple of “substantial” new contracts in its home country, according to the ASX-listed technology company’s CEO, Iain Dunstan.

Dunstan told Investment & Technology yesterday that Bravura would inform the market of its new Australian deals “in a couple of weeks”. Australia remains Bravura’s biggest market with 88 of its 126 clients domiciled there but much of the company’s energy recently has been directed to the UK where last week it signed off on its seventh client. The agreement with Cardif Pinnacle, part of the BNP group, to licence its Talisman software comes just weeks after Bravura had secured deals to supply its wrap technology to two other UK firms: financial planning collective, Nucleus, and insuranc company Friends Provident. Dunstan said the contract with Nucleus is to supply the entire back-end technology for the wrap platform. However, it is still in negotiations with Friends Provident to determine which parts of its wrap Bravura will provide. He also dismissed criticisms in the UK press that Australian wraps are not easily translated into the complex tax environment there. “We’ve already done it,” Dunstan said. Other Australian technology providers such as InfoComp and Praemium are also pitching their wares in the UK but as yet have no live clients, according to Dunstan. “In a competitive situation you can’t underestimate the value of having live clients,” he said. While the UK offers the most attractive opportunities for Bravura currently Dunstan said the Asian market is also rapidly opening up. Worldwide, he said, the demand for new web-based platforms, de-regulation and changing demographics have created the “perfect storm” for technology providers.