Technology

Scottish Widows is launching a long-awaited online portfolio tool next month which allows the investment adviser to select suitable funds for clients from the whole of the UK investment market.

Capita's objective through its acquisitions of Webline and Quay Software is to aggregate policy data and customer information and "put it on the adviser's desktop", says Steve Parkinson managing director Capita Life and Pensions.

Fidelity FundsNetwork has added new features to its service intended to boost users' ability to configure the platform to their own particular preferences.

Digital certificates in the form of UNIPASS save IFAs an average of £3,750 each year in time and costs, according to standards organisation Origo.

SELESTIA

Property portal Rightmove.co.uk has struck a deal with mobile phone network provider O2 to give subscribing consumers access to property data through mobile phones.

Paul Holland, executive chairman of quotes provider Webline, has responded to market rumours today by stating despite a year of courtship no deals have been signed with any third party relating to an acquisition deal.

Initial research and discussions with intermediaries as part of the industry's Adviser E-Enquiry initiative suggest ecommerce is being held back by a particular set of barriers requiring an industry-wide response, a Webline forum has heard.

Fidelity's FundsNetwork platform is officially pressing the go-live button on its Sipp and investment bond offer in the week starting 12 December.

Webline, the quotes provider, has been picked by Bankhall founders Paul Hogarth and Simon Taylor to supply the ecommerce platform underpinning a new general insurance business rolling out in early 2006.