Oracle forms financial services software unit

Oracle is establishing a new business unit focused on developing applications for the financial services industry. The new division will be headed by Rajesh Hukku, the current chairman and managing director of its majority-owned i-flex solutions subsidiary.



Headquartered in New York the unit will centralise and coordinate Oracle's financial services software products and serve as a vehicle for future acquisitions.



The new unit will bring together i-flex's applications - including Flexcube, Reveleus, Mantas, DayBreak and Insure3 - with Oracle's product suite.



In a statement Charles Phillips, president of Oracle, says the formation of the unit "will enable the consolidation and integration of our growing portfolio of financial services applications to provide the comprehensive and best-in-class solutions that our financial services customers expect".



I-flex executives R Ravisankar - currently CEO for international operations - and Deepak Ghaisas - who is currently CEO for India operations and CFO - will join Hukku to form part of the unit's management team.



Hukku will head the new unit in addition to his i-flex oversight responsibilities and will continue on the vendor's board as non-executive chairman.



Ravisankar and Ghaisas will both join the i-flex board as vice chairmen.



I-flex says its COO NRK Raman has been named managing director and CEO, while Makarand Padalkar, currently chief of staff and head of investor relations, assumes the role of i-flex's CFO.



Finally, Derek Williams, EVP of Oracle, will also join the i-flex board.



I-flex says the management changes are designed to achieve better co-ordination with Oracle's strategy for financial services. "This is an integral step in i-flex's strategic roadmap to position ourselves better to capture the enormous opportunity in financial services by expanding our leadership team," says Hukku.



http://www.finextra.com

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Lehman to take on rivals with £4m marketing budget

Lehman Brothers looks set to take the intermediary market by storm over the coming months after it revealed it will be spending a whopping £4m on marketing to develop its multi-brand market strategy.



Ever since Guy Batchellor, former sales and marketing director at Platform, joined the helm of Lehman Mortgage Capital as executive director of sales and marketing alongside chief executive Simon Hinshelwood, broker anticipation has mounted over what the planned changes to the Lehman mortgage brands would entail. These include Capstone Mortgage Services, SPML, Preferred Mortgages and London Mortgage Company.



Now the recruitment process has started to bolster brand positioning with a marketing budget of £4m - at least double that of some high street names.

Lehman was advertising in yesterday's The Sunday Times for a head of sales for SPML, a director of marketing and a director of strategy and change.



The latter two positions are both City-based and offer a six-figure compensation package. SPML's head of sales will also be based in the City and is offering a competitive salary.



But it's the advertisement for a director of marketing that sheds light on the Lehman Mortgage Capital strategy.



The advert says: “You will work closely with internal and external contacts to establish key messages and execute strategic marketing campaigns, on time and within a circa £4m budget.”



It also says: "This newly-created role will allow you to develop and execute a winning multi-brand market strategy, ensuring the success of Lehmans' residential mortgage brands.”



And in a strong commitment to the packaging sector it adds: “You will… expand and maintain relationships with key packagers and other core customers.”



The director of strategy and change will report directly to Hinshelwood and “will have full responsibility for ensuring that the strategic vision and ambitious transformation objectives for Lehmans' residential mortgage brand are implemented and achieved".

Also responsible for delivering a five-year business plan it would appear acquisitions are also on the cards.



The advertisement adds: “You will be tasked with delivering benefits to customers and stakeholders, through implementing multi dimensional change projects including acquisitions, business integration, operational improvement and organizational change.”



Earlier this month Mortgage Strategy Online revealed that Lehman Brothers Mortgage Capital was to launch a direct-to-broker specialist lender at the beginning of 2008.



The new brand will provide a full range of specialist products, from sub-prime, self-cert and buy-to-let to prime self-cert and prime buy-to-let, but with a dedicated direct-to-broker distribution and is designed to sidestep accusations of a direct proposition conflicting with products offered to its packager partners.



One recent entrant to the lending market, who asked not to be named, says: "This is big money. This will give Lehman blanket coverage across the trade press. It will be interesting to see how that £4m is allocated across the three and now four brands but you can guarantee that over the coming six to 12 months Lehman will be a force to be reckoned with."



http://www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk

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