Burges Salmon, the independent UK law firm, has supported Wealthtime — the adviser-led platform within The Quanta Group, one of the country’s foremost wealth management organisations — in establishing a landmark 10-year, three-way strategic alliance with Wipro and GBST. This collaboration will enable the delivery of a cutting-edge, digital-first platform and a highly innovative, client-focused service proposition.
As part of the arrangement, Wipro — a global leader in technology services and consultancy — will work alongside GBST, Wealthtime’s trusted technology partner for more than 15 years, in a co-delivery model designed to implement a full-spectrum platform solution. The initiative is aligned with Wealthtime’s long-term strategic growth plans, streamlining operations under one unified brand and building on a significantly upgraded technological foundation. The enhanced platform introduces new features and deep automation capabilities that will elevate the experience of Wealthtime’s 74,000 clients. By reducing manual processes, the transformation empowers advisers to dedicate more time to high-value activities and enables them to deliver richer insights to their clients.
The agreement also sees the platform business’ Operations and Technology & Change functions transfer to Wipro’s newly established UK centre of excellence for business processing. This shift will allow Wealthtime to leverage Wipro’s advanced technology and substantial AI experience to continually improve service standards and customer experience.
Burges Salmon’s cross-disciplinary Financial Services team advised Wealthtime, providing technology, commercial, corporate, employment, tax, real estate and financial regulatory expertise, with a 14-strong team led by technology partner and Head of Financial Services Martin Cook and senior associate Justin Barrow.
Martin Cook, partner and head of financial services at Burges Salmon, says: “With Wealthtime managing over £12 billion in assets and with exciting plans ahead, this partnership is a strategic turning point for The Quanta Group, transforming and enriching its client proposition and supporting its upward growth trajectory. It has been a pleasure working with the entire Wealthtime team and its stakeholders as it pioneers its innovative business transformation alongside its new and existing business partners. In what was a complex and fast-paced tri-party project, our deep experience of founding and advancing fruitful partnerships for our clients, coupled with our ability to provide end-to-end legal support, meant we could secure a completion and transition for all parties.”
Patrick Mill, CEO at The Quanta Group, adds: “This deal with Wipro will fundamentally transform our platform and service offering and deliver extensive benefits for advisers and their clients over the medium and long term. Our existing relationship with GBST will allow us to fast-track our proposition development through accelerated platform enhancements, delivering market-leading technology that underpins our future strategy. The announcement allows us to focus on our strengths, delivering a wealth of service and technological efficiencies as we build scale to realise our long-term growth ambition. We really enjoyed working with Burges Salmon and were impressed by the firm’s approach and understanding of the wealth platform and investment market, providing excellent support across a number of specialist subject areas whilst remaining joined-up and consistent throughout the project.”
Burges Salmon’s Financial Services team works with UK and international clients, ranging from fintech and high growth clients through to household name institutions, supporting them in anticipating key areas of risk and finding timely, practical and highly commercial solutions. The team’s reputation is built on managing highly complex, multi-party projects, and by providing sophisticated and commercially-oriented legal and regulatory advice. Of particular note is the team’s experience in implementing significant technology transactions and digital innovations into the financial services sector.
Lawyers involved in the transaction, alongside Martin and Justin, included: Pooja Bokhiria, Martin Cuell, Marcus Turle (Commercial and technology); Mark Shepherd and Douglas Streatfield-James (Corporate and M&A); James Green (Employment); Silvana Van der Velde and Rishi Naidoo (Tax); Alexandra Clayton and Richard Watkins (Real Estate); Tom Dunn and John Roberts (Financial Regulation and Products).
