Embark has hired Phillip Bungey to its leadership team for the ‘Advance’ platform — the rebranded version of the Zurich platform the firm acquired last week.
Mr Bungey, who will join Embark from next week (December 1), was previously 7IM’s chief operating officer.
Before this he was COO at online wealth manager Nutmeg where he created the first paperless online pension and revamped the Nutmeg operating model.
According to Embark, he has been involved in a number of start-up and innovative developments throughout his career as well as serving 10 years as the chairman of CommitFS, an advanced trader communication technology company.
Mr Bungey’s appointment follows Embark’s acquisitions of the Zurich platform, announced to the industry last week (November 20), and the adviser platform business Alliance Trust Savings, which it bought from Interactive Investor in October.
The purchases brought a combined £17bn of assets under management and about 160,000 clients onto the Embark platform, which now boasts a total Aum of more than £33bn for 300,000 clients.
Phil Smith, Embark Group’s chief executive, said: “The group is experiencing rapid growth in its investments and platform business following the recent acquisitions.
“Mr Bungey will bring valuable industry experience, as well as in-depth knowledge and expertise in technology, process and operational change to Embark.
“He also has an outstanding track record in delivering business solutions for complex organisations encompassing e-commerce, product development and change management.”
Mr Bungey said he was excited to join Embark at “such a pivotal period” and was looking forward to helping shape the future investments in technology, process improvements and proposition development for the Advance platform.
Embark’s decision to purchase Zurich’s platform created a flurry of investment in the firm, with US fund giant Franklin Templeton announcing it had bought a “material stake” in Embark yesterday (November 26) and Merian Chrysalis making a follow-on investment of £12.2m in the group today (November 27).
imogen.tew@ft.com
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