Synergy Capital Management, the platform business of Challenger’s financial planning division, has undertaken a $1 million upgrade of its IT hardware and software systems, and intends to link with XPlan.

IBM iSeries hardware, or “boxes”, are being installed into the registry system within the $2.2 billion platform, as end-of-life upgrades, which occur when a new systems model phases out its predecessor, occur elsewhere throughout the platform, according to Robert Hayward, Synergy director platforms and product. “Synergy hasn’t had major investment of this sort for years,” Hayward said. “The end-of-life upgrades are ongoing; an iSeries upgrade might happen every five years…They’re going through test cycles. We’re investing in the growth.” The speed at which financial planners and other Synergy clients can access account information is also being enhanced, according to Hayward. Meanwhile, Synergy is planning to link XPlan with its front-end component, and remodel itself as a more recognisable wrap product. “We’re also looking at doing a wrap service. We’re a combination of a wrap and a master trust. We want to go ‘more wrap’ at some time,” Hayward said.