RBS forks out £100 million on IT platform for Coutts and Adam & Co

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is to spend £100 million on an overhaul of the IT Platform used across its private bank divisions.

The Avaloq IT platform, which has been used by RBS Coutts’ Swiss operation for the past two years, will now be rolled out across the international private banking arms of RBS Wealth, including Coutts and Adam & Co.

Citywire understands Jürgen Pulm, chief administration officer at RBS Wealth, has been put in charge of the project, which the firm expects to be rubber-stamped by the RBS board in the near future.

The news comes after new RBS chief Stephen Hester (pictured) said the firm’s wealth management arm will continue to be a key business.

At present there are 39 different software systems across RBS Wealth, though Coutts and Adam & Co private bankers tend to use only six to seven as core day-to-day systems.

A source told Citywire Wealth Manager: ‘RBS Wealth is replacing all of these systems with one. Avaloq covers the whole suite of wealth management products in one system, including equities, cash, money markets, foreign exchange and derivatives.

‘There has always had an issue in bringing everything together, but with the new system Coutts is going to have a holistic view of everything that is related to the client.’

In a sign of further integration between Coutts and Adam & Co businesses, the Edinburgh-based private bank will also start using the Avaloq system as soon as it becomes available.

A person familiar with the process said: ‘It will allow Adam & Co to leverage off all the capabilities of RBS Wealth for products and services. It’s also something that is going to help them broaden their service offering.’

As well as monitoring investment performance, the Avaloq platform has been designed to make the lives of private bankers easier. For example, it aims to substantially cut down on the amount of administrative work needed to be done by them.