DSTi should have secured “one or two”; big wrap deals in the UK before the end of the year, according to Ian Mathieson, who heads the software firm in Australia.

The group already provides the technology for the Norwich UK ‘Lifetime’ platform and Mathieson said the wrap market there now represents a greater potential for DSTi than its more traditional back-office products. “;We’ve established an internal marketing team in the UK and have hired some distribution-type people,”; he said. Much of the technology used by DSTi for its UK wrap product was developed in Australia, however, the firm has not yet moved into the wrap business here. Other investment software firms such as Bravura and InfoComp are also slugging it out in the UK wrap business but Mathieson said the Australian link has been “;over-hyped”; as a selling point. “;If you look at some of those Australian firms marketing wraps in the UK they don’t have a lot of experience in the platform market,”; he said. Much of the technology used in DSTi’s UK wrap was developed in Australia but other components were produced locally – including some front-end planning tools. Mathieson said that unlike in Australia where the investment platform and financial planning tools are separate industries, the UK wrap products include both components. In Australia DSTi remains a back-office player but Mathieson said the firm has a strategic plan to move into the platform space.