Nucleus has appointed a former GBST executive as its director of technology, following the exit of Alan Mooney last month as part of a wider shake-up of its technology team.
Angela Cooper was previously at GBST for five years, most recently doing the role of executive manager for client services. She also spent 14 years at Aegon where she led platform support.
Based in Edinburgh, Cooper will report into JP Miller, Nucleus’ new technology and transformation director.
Andrew Smith has taken on the newly created position of chief digital officer. He has been the platform’s chief technology officer for the past seven years.
Meanwhile, Paul McAnulty - who has been at Nucleus for 11 years - has been promoted to director of data solutions. The platform said this reflected “the increasing importance of data” in evidencing customers are receiving the right outcomes ahead of the incoming consumer duty.
The platform has also hired Jenny Thorpe as chief business architect. She was formerly an associate director at platform consultancy Alpha FMC, having spent years at both Aegon and Alliance Trust.
She will report to chief operating officer Richard Warner and focus on service.
On the appointments, Nucleus’ chief executive Richard Rowney said: “We’ve got some great talent and the structure we’ve created will allow us to refocus our efforts across technology and digital development.
“This year alone, we’ve added almost 90 new colleagues and these changes will complement and boost our team at this transformative time in Nucleus’s evolution.”
Changes
There has been a string of senior departures from Nucleus over the past 18 months following its first sale to private equity in February 2021 and the subsequent departure of founder David Ferguson.
A number of senior employees at Nucleus have six-month non-compete clauses in their contract, meaning they cannot take on a new role with a similar business for at least six months from when they hand in their notice.
Nucleus’ former director of technology, Alan Mooney, is one of the latest executives to leave the business after spending more than seven years at the adviser platform.
FTAdviser understands Mooney did not immediately go into a new role.
Nucleus' technology focus has been on its new FNZ platform. The business said in September it was still "hoping" to soft launch its new FNZ platform at the back end of this year, but "so be it" if this launch spills over into early next year.
The business is currently on the hunt for acquisitions. FTAdviser understands self-invested personal pension providers Curtis Banks and Dentons Pension Management, as well as rival Novia’s investment platform Wealthtime, are all names currently on the table to talk to.
ruby.hinchliffe@ft.com
