Xplan has identified a range of opportunities for expansion in South Africa following its takeover earlier this year of insurance software firm PlanTech, according to general manager, Andrew Walsh.

Walsh, who has just returned from a business trip to South Africa, said Xplan was in talks with “existing and prospective” South African clients to build and extend the group’s presence. Xplan inherited the South African clients following its $15 million purchase of risk research provider PlanTech in September this year. PlanTech claimed 20 per cent of the South African risk research software market with clients including Swiss Re, Momentum Distribution Services and ABSA Brokers. While PlanTech had established a reasonable share of the risk research market in South Africa, Walsh said the group aimed to sell the full range of Xplan’s financial planning tools there. “We’re looking at how to take Xplan and extend it into South Africa,” he said. Walsh also said the PlanTech/Xplan integration is proceeding to schedule with the quant insurance component under construction now and due to be completed before the end of the year. “Looking at the PlanTech and Xplan technology the functional gaps are quite small,” he said. “But while PlanTech had a web strategy we now have the ability to get [its software] web-based sooner.” The risk research software will be incorporated into Xplan’s web-based financial planning tools with the PlanTech name to be phased out. ”There will only be Xplan,” Walsh said.