IRESS dismisses Intelliflo threat, ups AI investment following royal commission

Financial software company IRESS has dismissed the threat of new market entrant Intelliflo, with chief executive Andrew Walsh saying the local marketplace is already competitive and values IRESS’s independence.

IRESS, which is valued at $2.1 billion and generated $430 million in revenue in the last financial year, is also making significant investments in artificial intelligence. About half of its 1800 employees are now part of its technology team, and this could increase on the back of the Hayne royal commission.

“What we’ve seen in aspects of the royal commission is collecting data to respond to the commands of the commission has been a massive exercise for some businesses. But the expectation will be that firms need to produce data on a real-time basis, not as a manual exercise,” Mr Walsh said.

He told The Australian Financial Review there are already concerns in the market about Intelliflo’s new ownership by investment management company Invesco and said IRESS treated independence as “vitally important”.

“Buying a widget from someone with a conflict is OK, but if you’re strategically aligned it gets hard,” Mr Walsh said. “The marketplace is already competitive … we welcome the competition and we have welcomed it over a long period of time. But I don’t look at it and feel bothered. We already compete with Intelliflo in the UK and we’re not complacent.”

IRESS provides a full suite of software services, ranging from client relationship management to portfolio tracking for financial advise and superannuation firms, dominates about 60 per cent of the market in Australia.

To read more, please click on the link below…

Source: IRESS dismisses Intelliflo threat, ups AI investment following royal commission | afr.com